


Sweet Caroline

by Psychgirl7



Series: Caroline Mayfield [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol, Billy Hargrove Being an Asshole, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inappropriate Behavior, Language, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Tension, Step-siblings, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 84,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychgirl7/pseuds/Psychgirl7
Summary: Billy Hargrove is a California bad boy with a tough exterior and rough history. He is frustrated, angry, and feels the need to bring back some sense of control in his life. If he is going to be his dad's punching bag, then he needs a punching-bag of his own. His stepsisters, Caroline and Maxine, are weaker than him. When Caroline starts to get a backbone and stand up to him, all hell breaks lose.*Billy will be more sinister in this story than he is in the show.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Caroline Mayfield [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938985
Comments: 39
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any characters or parts from Stranger Things. I just love Billy being the sexy bad boy that he is. This story likely will not follow the exact story line from the show but will contain some scenes and references.

Caroline Mayfield, just like her stepbrother and younger sister, was the newest attraction in town. Everyone in school took an interest in the fresh-faced beauty from California. Her sun-kissed skin and wavy blonde-streaked hair was just different enough from the typical girls in Hawkins, Indiana. It made her stand out like a shiny new penny.

The fact that her handsome stepbrother also drove like a bat out of hell, drawing attention everywhere they went with his roaring engine, made it hard for people not to notice her. The girls at school were intimidated by her presence and held their boyfriends a little bit closer, knowing that their eyes wandered any time she walked by. At the same time, they wanted to be close with her, hoping that their chances of dating her stepbrother would increase if they were able to make their presence known to the California bad boy.

To make matters worse, she had a personality to boot. She was the kind of girl that if she knew she was beautiful, she didn’t let on. She wasn’t stuck up like some of the other girls. She spoke to everybody with the same welcoming tone, a perfect symmetrical smile plastered on her face like she had just stepped out of a magazine. The makeup that she wore was light: a bit of pink on the apples of her cheeks to define her cheekbones a bit more, some mascara to darken her lashes and make those baby blues pop, and some lip gloss that made her lips look somewhat plump and irresistible. She was a threat, and she didn’t even know it.

Her younger sister, Maxine, was a bit more plain looking. Her red hair was long and unkempt. She was tomboyish and not into the girly things that Caroline preferred. While Caroline enjoyed shopping and putting outfits together, Max enjoyed video gaming and skateboarding. Their attitudes were polar opposites as well. Max was a bit more gruff with her responses; their mother, Susan, would often look for Caroline to answer for the both of them, knowing that she was likely to get nothing more than a shrug out of Max. Caroline tended to be an optimist. While Caroline was disappointed to leave their home where the beach was just minutes away, she viewed the move to Indiana as an opportunity to expand their knowledge, meet new people, and gain other worldly experiences.

Billy didn’t share that attitude. Her stepbrother was angry about the move. Quite frankly, he was angry about a lot of things these days. He was King Shit back home. Although he had no doubts that he would be King Shit in this little hick town, it wasn’t as much of a challenge to be a big fish in such a little pond. The town didn’t have much to offer in terms of entertainment. Even the girls were boring. He hated to admit it, but Caroline was more his type, physically, than the Plain-Janes in Hawkins. But, “pussy was pussy.” He would eventually get his release when he felt like he couldn’t tolerate it anymore. In the meantime, he had his hands and his dirty magazines.

He hadn’t gotten laid since they moved to this “shithole,” as he called it. Caroline had noticed that he was more ornery than usual and assumed that it mostly had to do with the move and starting over. Billy wasn’t one for talking about his feelings, especially with his stepsisters. Their mere presence seemed to annoy him, although he found himself better able to tolerate Caroline than Max. Maybe it was because they were the same age, or maybe because she was easy on the eyes. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t jerk off picturing Caroline on more than one occasion. Upon their move to Hawkins, he had made sure to “accidentally” walk in to Caroline’s room while she was getting dressed, using the excuse that the house was new and he forgot which room was his. The sight that he had seen left little to the imagination, giving him just enough ammunition for the spank-bank.

The girls tried to limit their interactions with Billy whenever possible. They had become aware of the patterns in which they became his punching-bags, of sorts. It became a vicious cycle of bad attitudes followed by arguments at home, which often times turned into screaming matches between him and his dad, Neil, and quite frequently became physical. Their mother did nothing to stop this from happening. While the girls had never seen Neil hit their mother, they knew that there was a certain level of fear and control there. Their mother had always been a meek, rather quiet woman. But, she was even more quiet these days, especially when it came to her husband’s child-rearing practices with his son.

Caroline’s stepdad, Neil, could be a nice man when he wanted to be. But for the most part, he was a cruel bastard. He wanted things to be done his way; he wanted things done when he said, how he said. No room for discussion. It was no wonder why Billy was the asshole that he was, having Neil for a father. Caroline didn’t understand what her mother saw in Neil. He was verbally abusive to Billy, calling him a “pussy” or a “faggot,” because he knew it got under Billy’s skin. He would slam Billy against the wall during their arguments, sometimes punch him in the ribs or slap him across the face. Every now and then Billy would tread lightly around his dad, but sometimes he became adventurous and brave enough to say what was really on his mind. These were the worst days. For everyone. These were the days following a beating that Billy would break things belonging to Caroline or Max, or would sometimes get a little too rough with them. While Billy never unleashed the same severity of physical torment on the girls that he had experienced at Neil’s hands, he would sometimes push, grab a little too rough, or get a little too close for comfort. With Max it was more breaking things and scare tactics, with Caroline it was a bit more physical and verbal. A lot of Billy’s cruelty came in the form of name-calling, intimidation, or controlling behavior. He was bound and determined to regain control one way or another, even if it meant controlling someone else’s life.

Part of the reason why Caroline didn’t recognize her own beauty had to do with comments that Billy would make to her. Although he had only been in her life for a few years, his tongue was sharp and his words were hostile and unnerving. She did her best not to let it show, to keep him from feeling the full satisfaction of knowing the effect it had on her. Some days, however, Billy Hargrove brought out the worst in her. Knowing what words and actions got under his skin made it easy for Caroline to sometimes put him in his place, but it usually came at a price to her or Max. Perhaps this is why she went out of her way to be nice to everyone else—she knew the impact that such cruelty and words could have on people.

*****

“Hey, Caroline! Wait up!” called a male voice from behind her as she made her way up the paved path toward the student parking lot.

Caroline smiled to herself, recognizing the voice as Steve’s. He was the first person to talk to her that first day at school, and she couldn’t help but develop a little school-girl crush on him. The way his hair bounced when he walked, how he ran his fingers through his hair to comb it when he spoke and smiled. There was a certain boyish charm about him that Caroline found endearing.

Caroline bit her bottom lip and cleared her throat, smoothing out her smile into a serene face that would hopefully hide her excitement that he was calling after her. Tightening her grip around her books, she pressed them hard into her chest to keep herself grounded and turned to face him.

“Hey, Steve,” Caroline practically beamed. _God, he’s beautiful,_ she thought to herself as he approached her, his locks bouncing with every step he took.

Steve quickened his pace into a brief jog to catch up to her so she didn’t have to wait as long.

“I know you’re new and all, and you don’t know many people yet,” Steve stopped in front of her and brushed his fingers back through his hair, “but there’s a Halloween party tomorrow night at Tina’s. We were wondering if maybe you’d like to come,” he smiled.

“We?” Caroline smiled with confusion.

“Yeah, Nancy and me,” Steve placed his hands on his hips. “Might be a nice way to meet a few people and just have fun. I mean, I know it’s not California and there’s not much to do around here,” he started when Caroline interrupted him.

“Yeah, I’d love to,” she nodded her head a bit too eagerly. She had the perfect outfit in mind that would allow her to possibly draw some additional attention from Steve.

“Great,” he smiled. “Uhm, should I pick you up, orrrr,” he dragged out the last word, waiting for Caroline to provide an answer.

“No,” Caroline quickly said in a harsher tone than she had intended.

She knew how many questions Neil had always asked Billy and the comments he had made any time Billy had a date. Although Caroline didn’t really date, she didn’t want to subject herself to the same line of questioning. While Neil has never called her any names to her knowledge, he had always referred to Billy’s dates as whores. Caroline was a good girl and didn’t want to damage the view that her mother and stepfather had of her.

“No,” Caroline repeated more calmly this time. “I can ask my stepbrother to drive me there. He has to drop Max off for trick-or-treating anyway,” she explained. “I’ll just,” she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head slightly, feeling herself blush while speaking with him, “need an address.”

“Yeah,” Steve removed his hands from his hips and rubbed his chin, just below his lower lip. Caroline couldn’t help but stare. “Can I just…” Steve said as he reached for Caroline’s notebook in her hands.

“Oh,” she snapped out of her daydream and giggled, “yeah.”

Steve’s hand gently brushed hers as he took the notebook in his hands. Caroline felt butterflies in her stomach and her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. Steve smiled briefly at her before looking down at the paper and scribbling an address on the back of the last page. She looked at his face while he wrote, a thick strand of hair fell and hung above his eye. It took everything within her to not reach out and brush it back into place, but she resisted the urge as Steve read her mind just in time. He brushed his hair back and closed the notebook, holding it back out to Caroline.

She took it back into her pile and thanked him.

“I’ll see you there,” he smiled, hands placed back on his hips again.

“Definitely,” Caroline smiled and batted her lashes, biting her lower lip again.

Steve nodded his head with a smile and walked backwards a few paces before turning around and heading back towards the school. Caroline released a contented sigh and turned back towards her original destination. As she walked, she couldn’t help but smile and look back once in Steve’s direction. Her heart fluttered when she turned and saw that he had done the same and he gave a quick wave with a flick of his hand.

Billy leaned against the trunk of his dark blue Camaro, watching the entire scene unfold. His messy, sandy, shoulder length tendrils blew slightly in the breeze as he took another long drag of his Marlboro Red. His square jaw tensed as he tightened his lips around the cigarette, freeing his hands momentarily to slip his lighter back in the pocket of his faded denim jacket. He dug his boot into the ground, small bits of gravel and dirt crunching beneath his weight as he tapped his finger impatiently on the metal of the trunk before reaching up and removing the cigarette from his mouth with his thumb and middle finger with a sharp exhale. The cool air stung his lungs when he breathed in, the effects of being a smoker since before his teen years. He wasn’t used to this kind of climate and had never noticed the sensation before it became evident on cold days such as this one.

The sunlight caught Caroline’s hair just right, causing the blonde highlights to gleam like gold amidst the lighter brown waves. Her smile made her look like she didn’t have a care in the world, and that pissed Billy off. How could anyone feel anything but miserable in this pit stain of a town.

Caroline looked up and snapped back to reality when she saw Billy’s lips pressed into a firm line on his face. Her smile quickly faded and she cleared her throat again. She was glad they only had two classes together. If she had to see him all day in addition to living with him she would probably want to die.

“What was that all about?” Billy gruffly interrogated as she walked past him to the passenger side door. He didn’t feel the need to make eye contact with her.

“Just a guy from class inviting me to a party,” Caroline said with a hint of attitude.

“This wouldn’t be at some bitch's named Tina, would it?” he said with annoyance, taking another puff and turning his head in her direction slightly to better hear her response.

“Were you invited, too?” Caroline asked, displeasure dripping from her words.

Billy chuckled, blowing the smoke out of his nostrils. Caroline stood at the passenger door and sighed, knowing the answer.

“I guess I’ll have to get used to you being at the same parties since the peer group is slim pickings,” was his only response.

Caroline opened the door and leaned over to peek inside before getting in. Noticing that Max wasn’t in the car, she stood back up and looked at the back of Billy’s head. “Where’s Max?”

Billy rolled his head slowly out of irritation. “Jesus, what do I look like? Her babysitter?”

Just then Caroline heard the familiar sound of plastic wheels rolling on the pavement. Just as she turned around to look, there was Max, jumping off her board and picking up from the ground. Caroline smiled as Max took the final steps to the door, about to greet her sister and ask about her day.

“You’re late again,” Billy snapped, still not looking at either of the girls.

Max looked at Caroline, almost for guidance as to a response.

“Yeah, I had to get catch-up homework,” Max quickly explained.

“Jesus, I don’t care,” Billy huffed, chuckling out of aggravation. Turning his head he calmly threatened, “You’re late again, and you’re skating home. D’you hear me?”

He didn’t even wait for a response before taking another quick puff of his cigarette and then carelessly tossing it on the ground in front of him, pushing himself away from the car and making his way to the driver’s side door.

Max rolled her eyes at Caroline who gave a sympathetic smile. She placed her hand on Max’s shoulder and gently guided her into the backseat of the car before sitting herself in the front seat. It was going to be one of those days.


	2. Chapter 2

Billy’s driving had always been reckless. He had a lead foot and an invincibility complex. She hated having to depend on him for rides. Caroline always had a feeling that he knew how much his driving scared them and that he continued to do it on purpose.

“God, this place is such a shithole,” Billy broke the uncomfortable silence with his typical irritated tone, speaking to no one in particular.

“It’s not that bad,” Max immediately replied matter-of-factly from the backseat.

Caroline closed her eyes and sighed, knowing that an argument was about to ensue. Billy didn’t tolerate anyone talking back to him, least of all Max. He was never one to just _let it go._

“No?” he looked in the rearview mirror at the redhead. He reached his hand down to the center console and flipped the switch, rolling down Caroline’s window.

The sudden kiss of the cold air hitting her skin and whipping her long hair against her face caused Caroline to open her eyes again. The sound of rustling leaves being kicked up in the car’s wake filled the uncomfortable silence in between their remarks.

Billy held his nose as he spoke, taking in a deep, exaggerated whiff of air to make his point, “You smell that, Max? That’s actually shit. Cow shit.”

“I don’t see any cows,” Max calmly challenged him. Caroline didn’t utter a word as she hit the button on the center console to roll her window back up. She brushed her hair out of her face.

“Clearly you haven’t met the high school girls,” Billy retorted, stealing a quick glance at Caroline before shifting his view back to road again. When that didn’t muster a response from anyone, Billy continued, practically begging for someone to continue a fight. “So what, you like it here now?”

“No,” Max snapped.

“Then why are you defending it?” Billy quickly questioned.

Caroline took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Her heart started to beat faster. Although Billy’s driving was fast and scared her, part of her wished that he would go faster so that the car ride would be over and they could go their separate ways for the evening.

“I’m not,” Max defended.

“Sure sounds like it,” Billy pointed out, licking his lips and sucking his tongue against his upper teeth.

Max fell silent again. Billy looked in the rearview mirror to see her sitting with her arms crossed. He looked beside him to the passenger seat at Caroline. She was stone-faced, sitting with a tensed jaw and clenched hands holding her books on her lap.

“And what about you,” Billy grumbled to Caroline. “You like it here?”

It was a lose-lose situation. Either Caroline agrees with Max and it keeps the argument going, or she agrees with Billy and gives him an ego boost. Ignoring him wasn’t an option, not if she wanted to have any shred of peace tonight.

“It’s not that bad,” Caroline calmly repeated Max’s previously spoken words, never moving her eyes from the road before them.

_”It’s not that bad,”_ Billy mimicked with disdain in his gravelly voice.

“It’s just, we’re stuck here, so,” Max spoke again, trying to reason with him.

“Mm, you’re right,” Billy agreed. Caroline knew that something more was coming. Billy never agreed with anything they said, even when they were right. “We’re stuck here.” He looked in the rearview again at the defiant redhead. “And whose fault is that?” his eyes returned to the road.

“Yours,” Caroline heard Max lightly say from behind her. Except, Caroline wasn’t the only one who heard it.

“What’d you say?” Billy tensed, darting his eyes to the girl in the rearview mirror again.

“Nothing,” Max quickly backtracked, her tone absent of the attitude that she just had.

Caroline brought her right hand up to her face and rested her elbow on the doorframe by the window. She rubbed her temple, closing her eyes to try to keep her calm.

Billy licked his lips and sucked in his cheeks. “D’you say it’s my fault?” Max denied it. “You know whose fault it is.”

“Guys, it’s no one’s fault, okay?” Caroline quickly said, just wanting everyone to shut up. Billy could be an asshole, but sometimes Max played into it. She wasn’t yet experienced enough with the world to recognize when and how to choose her battles.

“Say it,” Billy ignored Caroline, staring at Max in the rearview mirror.

Max avoided his eyes and stared out the window, hoping if she was quiet that he would forget she was there and just drop the whole thing.

“Maaax,” he eerily drew out her name, waiting for her to break her silence and obey the way he was used to. “Say it,” he said more firmly.

Caroline was becoming fed up with this. “Billy,” she shortly said his name as if it was a demand.

Billy ignored her again and jumped in his seat, turning the upper half of his body towards the back seat as he gripped the steering wheel tighter and yelled at the top of his lungs to Max, “SAY IT!”

Caroline jumped at his sudden outburst, even though she knew deep down that this is what it was building up to. Just as quickly as he had turned around, he faced forward again, roughly grabbing the gear shift and pressing his boot harder on the pedal. Caroline felt her stomach drop as the car accelerated and she braced herself by dropping her hand to the door frame and digging her nails into the seat with her other hand.

Billy turned the knob to his radio, blasting the music and dancing irregularly in his seat. He pounded the palms of his hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the music and bobbed his head as if he were at a rock concert.

Caroline turned in her seat to glimpse at Max. She looked scared and was bracing herself similar to the way that Caroline was. Max narrowed her eyes briefly and then leaned forward. “Billy, slow down,” the sound of fear was apparent in her voice.

Caroline turned back around to look at the road. When she saw three kids on bikes up ahead in their lane, she realized that this was what scared Max.

“Billy,” Caroline chimed in, fear evident in her voice, as well.

“Are these your new hick friends?” Billy continued to dance and pound on the wheel.

“No,” Max panicked, “no, I don’t know them.”

“Then I guess you won’t care if I hit ‘em then, huh? I get bonus points if I get ‘em all in one go?” he shouted over the blaring music.

“Come on, stop it, Billy, it’s not funny,” Caroline sat more erect her seat, never taking her eyes off of the three kids as the distance between them was rapidly closing. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her ears.

Billy looked over at her unapologetically, never missing a beat with his weird little dance. His lack of response was unnerving.

“Billy, come on, stop it, it’s not funny,” Max’s voice became louder and more concerned. Caroline felt her seat shift as Max gripped it tighter and pulled herself forward to be closer to Billy as she begged. “Stop! Billy!” Max knew her attempts to reason with him were in vain and time was growing short. She shifted her focus and shouted with desperation, “Caroline! Do something!”

Without even thinking, Caroline pushed her school books off of her lap and leaned far over towards the driver side, grabbing hold of the wheel and fighting Billy for control. She turned the wheel left, just hard enough that the car swerved and narrowly missed the three kids riding their bikes on the road. Billy roughly nudged her away with his elbow and returned the vehicle to their lane, never taking his foot off the gas.

Max quickly turned around and looked out the back window to make sure the boys were okay. Caroline’s grip had returned to the door and her seat, her breathing short and fast as she tried to make sense of Billy’s erratic behavior. He was at times unpredictable, and that terrified her.

“Yeah! That was a close one, huh?! Ha haaa!” Billy shouted, seemingly with delight.

Caroline looked at him in shock. Out of all the things that he had ever done, she had never before seen him almost run children over. She suddenly remembered Max in the backseat. She sat up and turned around, reaching her hand back and touching Max’s knee.

“Max,” she said breathily to get her attention.

Max turned her head and looked at Caroline, also trying to steady her breathing. The boys had wrecked their bikes off the side of the road, but they were safe.

“They’re okay,” Max blinked. She swallowed hard and nodded her head, “I’m okay.” That was the real response that Caroline was looking for. Max turned her head again and stared out the back window as the boys disappeared from sight.

“What are you two whining about?” Billy’s annoyed tone returned. He didn’t truly care; this was just an opportunity to pick another fight.

Caroline turned her attention from Max to Billy. She balled her hand into a fist and punched his upper arm, not with full force but enough to show her anger and disapproval of his behavior. “You son-of-a-bitch,” Caroline gritted her teeth. “What the _hell_ is the matter with you? Those were kids!”

Billy didn’t appreciate the punch to the arm. Amusement from the recent event left his face and was replaced with a look of wrath. He furrowed his brow as his nostrils flared.

“Did anyone die?” Billy sarcastically reasoned as he rolled his head to look at Caroline. He loved to get under her skin. If he couldn’t get into her pants, that was the next best thing.

“You could’ve hurt someone,” Caroline’s reprimanding fell on deaf ears. Billy rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Ooooh, I _could’ve hurt someone_ ,” he mocked her while looking forward. He let off the gas slightly, not to appease her, but because he was starting to get bored.

There was no getting through to him. There was no remorse ever from any of his actions. Caroline loathed her stepbrother. She wouldn’t care to ever see him again once she is finished with school.

The rest of the car ride home was quiet, save for the radio and roaring of his engine. The car came to a screeching halt on the street in front of their house. Billy always made it a point to rev his engine when they stopped, as if this was a sign of his masculinity. Max barely waited for the car to come to a complete stop before she reached ahead to open the passenger side door and pushed Caroline’s seat forward, exiting the vehicle as if her life depended on it. Caroline leaned forward and picked up her books from the floor along with some papers that had scattered from the pockets of her folders.

She leaned back to file everything neatly in its place. Max was already through the front door. Billy grabbed Caroline’s arm tightly just above her elbow and pulled her in closer to him. She gasped at the unexpected contact. The folder that she had been working on slipped from her hand and again fell at her feet.

Billy lowered his head to look out the passenger door up at the house, making sure that Susan wasn’t looking. When he saw that everything was clear, he shifted his eyes to Caroline and leaned his face in closer to hers. His lips were inches from her face. Caroline could feel the heat from his breath and smell the remnants of his last cigarette as he spoke lowly.

“If you ever,” he paused for dramatic effect, “ _ever_ ,” he enunciated, “hit me again in front of Max, I will end you. You got that?” he stared into her eyes without blinking.

Caroline pursed her lips and tried to shake his hold from her arm. He squeezed his fingers tighter. “The only response I should be hearing from you right now is ‘yes, sir.’ Do you got that?”

“Let go of me,” Caroline tried to pry his fingers from around her arm to no avail.

“Say it,” Billy was unforgiving and becoming impatient.

Caroline grimaced at the pain of his vice grip. “Fine. Yes,” she groaned. Billy loved to humiliate her. He would never have the balls, though, to do this in front of their parents. Caroline wasn’t brave enough to tell her mother or Neil, either, for fear of what Billy would do for retaliation.

“The whole thing,” Billy demanded with a Cheshire grin.

_God, he’s getting off on this,_ Caroline thought to herself. Her nose involuntary scrunched up out of the amount of hatred that she had for him. “Yes. Sir,” Caroline finally conceded.

Billy’s smiled widened even further as he let out a sudden, obnoxious laugh. He released her arm and opened his door to exit.

Caroline hastily gathered up her things and exited the car, slamming the door behind her. “Asshole,” she grumbled under her breath, feeling more confident with the upcoming safety of her house in sight.

“What did you say?” Billy called after her. He chuckled to himself when he saw her pick up her pace. He sat on the hood of his car and lit another cigarette.

Caroline ignored him and continued into the house, thanking her lucky stars that her mom was home. Neil was still at work, so the likelihood of things being quiet for the next few hours was high as long as Billy stayed out of her way.


	3. Chapter 3

The Mayfields and Hargroves sat at the dinner table every night promptly at 6pm after Neil returned home from work. Susan wasn’t exactly the best cook, but she was decent enough. Tonight’s dinner was some kind of rubbery, bland chicken with broccoli and rice. Caroline would never dare criticize her mother’s meals, but she was growing increasingly tired of the amount of chicken they were eating these days. She could sense that everybody was.

Max poked at her chicken with a fork, having eaten about as much as she could stomach. The sounds of forks and knives scraping against china plates filled the awkward silence that so many of their dinners usually endured. Although they had been together for years, the tension in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife. It never did feel like a real family.

“So,” Susan spoke with an upbeat tone, “how was school today, kids?” She smiled and looked around the table at the three teens, opening the conversation up to whomever wanted to answer.

When no one responded, Susan asked, “Max?”

Max looked at her and shrugged her shoulders, “Okay, I guess.” She returned her gaze to the plate and continued poking and prodding at the chicken. It was a house rule that no one got up until everyone was finished. She was just trying to pass the time.

Susan smiled a closed, rather sad smile, pleased that she got an answer, although it did leave the conversation rather flat.

Caroline and Billy looked at each other from across the table; Billy chewed his food slowly while Caroline twiddled her fork in between her thumb and forefinger. She was tempted to talk about the excitement this afternoon on the car ride home, and Billy knew it. He wrapped his fingers around his glass of water and raised it to his lips, never breaking eye contact with Caroline. Their silent stares with each other spoke volumes.

A sudden _thud_ sounded, shaking the table and clinking the ice in their water glasses. Billy jerked, lowering his glass and pulling his leg back at the feeling of Neil kicking his foot from beneath the table. Billy looked over at his father. His long earring dangled back and forth from his left lobe at the sudden movement.

“Susan asked you a question,” Neil strictly pointed out, staring at Billy with an intense fire in his eyes just daring him to say something disrespectful.

Billy looked back down at his plate of half-eaten food. “It was fine, Susan,” he answered emotionlessly. Then a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he brought his sight up to Caroline. In turn, she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering what he was up to. “But Caroline has a new boyfriend.”

Caroline’s eyes widened at this remark. In unison, Susan and Neil turned to face Caroline.

“A boyfriend?” Neil questioned, placing the palm of his hand on the table in surprise.

Susan shook her head and giggled nervously, “Honey, you never mentioned anything about a boyfriend.”

Caroline smiled scornfully at Billy, “Well, there’s a boy, and he’s my friend, that’s all.”

Susan and Neil exchanged glances before looking back at Caroline. “Well, tell us about him,” Susan encouraged.

Caroline bit the insides of her lips together for a second before blurting out with excitement, “Oh, Mom, he’s so cute.” She let out a sigh. “His hair is _beautiful_ , and he’s on the basketball team, and he’s funny, and he’s just a really _really_ nice guy.” Caroline realized that she showed a bit too much excitement about this boy who is just a friend and decided to emphasize, “But he’s _just_ a friend.”

Susan couldn’t help but smile at the excitement in her daughter’s voice. “He sounds… lovely.” She looked at Neil and raised her eyebrows, silently communicating his involvement in the conversation.

Neil took the hint from Susan and cleared his throat, stuffing another piece of chicken in his mouth as he said, “Sounds like a fine young man. I’d like to meet him.”

Caroline blushed and looked back down at her plate before returning her look to Billy. She curled her lip and partway stuck her tongue out at him for bringing it up. Billy huffed at the response from their parents.

“So, let me get this straight,” Billy said calmly with a smirk. “If Caroline wants to go out with a guy, he’s a fine young man. If I want to go out with a girl, she’s a whore.”

Neil slammed his fist down on the table, still holding onto his knife, and narrowed his eyes at Billy. Max, Caroline, and Susan jumped at the sudden noise. Billy was mostly unfazed and didn’t bother turning his head but instead shifted his eyes in the direction of his father. Caroline didn’t think she could ever get used to the aggressiveness between Neil and Billy despite having seen it for years.

“Watch your tone, boy,” Neil warned, his jaw tensing the same way Billy’s does when he is angry.

“I’m just trying to understand,” Billy placed his hands on his own chest, looking back and forth between Caroline and Neil. His tone was very calm, but Caroline (and everyone else at the table) knew that he was being sardonic. “I mean, if we’re going to have a double standard…”

“You think I don’t know what you’re up to when you’re out with those girls?” Neil interrupted him in an irritated manner.

Max felt incredibly uncomfortable. “May I be excused?” she placed her fork on the table and scrunched her shoulders upward, her long red hair falling to the sides of her face, hoping to disappear within herself.

“No,” Neil snapped, never taking his eyes off Billy.

“Neil,” Susan spoke quietly, “this is not the kind of conversation for children.”

Neil ignored Susan and continued to berate Billy. “You know what your problem is?”

“No, what’s my problem, Dad?” Billy stretched his neck and flared his nostrils, crossing his arms in front of his puffed out chest.

Neil placed his elbow on the table and pointed his knife at Billy. “You’re a disrespectful, irresponsible little shit. And you’ve proven yourself to be incapable of making good decisions, because you think with your dick instead of your head.”

Caroline raised her eyebrows and lowered her chin closer to her chest. Her mouth involuntarily formed a perfect “O” in a shocked response to Neil’s choice of words. She kept quiet, half amused at the spectacle that Billy had created for himself.

“Okay,” Susan interjected more loudly than usual but still in that upbeat, chipper tone of voice that annoyed the hell out of Billy. “I think that’s enough for now.”

“Mom,” Max pleaded her request again with her eyes. Susan nodded her head and Max took her cue, pushing her chair back and walking briskly to her room away from the words that she never wanted to hear or talk about in front of Neil or Billy.

“Yeah,” Neil continued to look at Billy, setting his knife down and picking up his cloth napkin from his lap. He wiped his mouth and mustache. “I’ve lost my appetite,” he commented as he bunched the napkin into a ball and tossed it onto his plate, standing and walking away from the table.

Billy watched his dad walk away and scrunched his nose, his lips pursed into an angry frown. He looked at Caroline, who stared at him expressionless, before he forcefully pushed his chair back and stood from his position. He stomped away from the table, heavy thuds from his boots fading the further he walked away until they eventually disappeared behind a slammed door and were replaced by the reverberation of muffled rock music.

Caroline and her mother remained at the table, neither quite knowing what to say. There had been a lot of arguments in the house between Neil and Billy, but this would be one for the books. Caroline was just glad that it didn’t end on a physical note.

“Uhm, Mom,” Caroline broke the silence.

Susan swallowed and blinked her eyes a few times. She smiled halfheartedly at Caroline and waited for her to continue.

“That boy,” Caroline continued. “His name is Steve. He invited me to a party tomorrow night.”

“A party?” Susan sounded surprised and hesitant. The word _party_ was something she associated with negative connotations. After all, Billy had had his fair share of run-ins with the law back in California because of the kinds of parties he attended and crowds that he ran around with.

“A Halloween party,” Caroline corrected her quickly, “you know, a costume party.” She could tell that this still didn’t settle Susan’s nerves. “It’s just going to be a few kids from class. Please, mom, can I go?”

Susan wanted to let her daughter have typical teenage experiences, but the stories she heard from Neil coupled with her own experiences in dealing with Billy caused her to think twice about all the things that could go wrong. She trusted Caroline. There had never been a reason not to.

“Well, I,” Susan started nervously, uncertain of what words were going to come out of her mouth next.

Neil returned to the table and saw the anxious look on Susan’s face. “What’s the matter?” he looked back and forth between the two.

“Well,” Susan played with the dainty gold chain around her neck, “Caroline’s… _friend…_ invited her to a Halloween party tomorrow night.”

Both women looked at Neil. He placed his hands on the back of his dining chair and leaned against it as he shifted his weight to his left foot.

“A party, huh?” Neil clicked his tongue. He looked back in the direction of Billy’s room. “Is Billy going to this party?” he returned his eyes back to Caroline.

Caroline swallowed nervously. “He was invited, yes,” she admitted. “It’s just going to be a few kids from class. We’re going to dress up in costumes… I wouldn’t ask if I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate.” She had sensed their hesitation and knew it had to do with Billy.

“Caroline has always been responsible with her decision-making,” Susan reasoned with Neil, sensing his own trepidations about the situation.

Neil nodded his head in agreement as he considered the request. He pointed his finger in Billy’s direction and instructed Caroline, “You keep an eye on that one, and you report back to me if he is anything other than responsible.” Caroline smiled and eagerly nodded her head, excited about gaining permission for the party. “No drinking, no drugs, no…” he paused, “funny business.”

Caroline could only speak for herself. Chances were that she and Billy would go their separate ways once they arrived at the party. Neither one of them could stand the other. Caroline didn’t typically lie, but if having a fun night out meant having to tell a white lie, then so be it.


	4. Chapter 4

Caroline sat alone on the sofa in the dimly lit living room, propping her head up against her hand on the arm of the couch. The light from the TV flickered across the room, creating an almost trance-like effect in her already fatigued state.

“You going to bed, sweetie?” Susan said from the doorway, tying a bow at her waist from her pastel robe.

Caroline lifted her head, “Can I stay up to watch Miami Vice?” She smiled and then made puppy dog eyes and a playful pout.

Susan chuckled and crossed her arms. “Alright. Not too late, okay?”

“Okay,” Caroline smiled. “G’night, Mom.”

“Good night,” Susan turned and walked away, retreating to her marital bed.

Caroline returned her head to its previous position against her hand. She liked being the last one to go to bed. She could have the TV to herself and didn’t feel like she had to retreat to her room for the whole evening. Since Billy had stormed off to his room after dinner, this allowed her to have the living room and a break from constantly watching and listening to MTV. There was only so much metal and rock she could take.

The opening scene of Miami Vice played lowly, flashing scenes of ocean water and skyscrapers. It wasn’t California, but it made Caroline long for her former home. She missed the beach, the sun, and her friends. Billy was right about having to get used to running in the same crowds. Their school in California was huge-- at least five times the size of Hawkins High School. It was easy to get lost in the crowd. It was easy to escape him throughout the day.

A door opened down the hallway followed by the sound of the refrigerator door opening and closing. Within seconds, Billy had walked into the living room in a pair of blue sweatpants that clung loosely to his hips and no shirt. He slumped down on the couch directly beside Caroline, despite there being two empty spaces available. Her weight shifted slightly with Billy’s presence. She drew her feet closer to her body reflexively.

Billy held a can of beer in his hand. Just as he was about to pop the tab, he stretched his neck and leaned back, making sure that Susan and Neil were nowhere in sight. The pop of the metal cracking open followed by the fizzing sound of carbonation made Caroline’s ears tingle. Billy took six massive gulps and let out a noisy sigh of satisfaction followed by a muffled burp within his mouth. He held the can on his knee and spread his legs out in front of him, violating Caroline’s personal space and causing her to pull her legs even closer to her to avoid his touch. He turned his head and looked at Caroline. She was vastly aware of his eyes on her but did her best to focus on the show.

Seconds passed by that seemed like an eternity. She could feel his eyes boring a hole into her face. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and her heartrate quicken. He was motionless except for his steady breathing.

“What?!” Caroline snapped in a hushed voice and finally looked at him, feeling more and more uneasy the longer he looked at her.

He cocked a half smile and mumbled, “Truth or dare?” as he took another swig of his beer.

Caroline scoffed and returned her gaze to the TV. “I don’t want to play,” she curtly responded.

“Well, I do,” Billy pressed. “Truth... Or dare?”

Caroline rolled her eyes and shook her head without realizing. “Truth,” she begrudgingly forfeited.

Billy smiled and wagged his tongue along his bottom lip, excited to have her engage.

He leaned closer to Caroline and lowered his voice. His wicked grin remained as he asked, “You gonna try to screw that guy from school?”

Caroline jerked her head up and turned suddenly to look at him again. His grin widened at her reaction.

“You’re disgusting,” Caroline spluttered, not amused in the least at his question.

“Is that a no?” he drank again.

Ignoring his question, Caroline pushed his leg roughly with her foot. “Why do you have to sit right next to me? There’s room over there,” she indicated the opposite side of the couch.

He smiled and allowed the contact but did not budge. Caroline returned her attention to the television. Don Johnson was on the screen in his trademark white jacket. Billy’s smile slowly faded as he turned his head to face the TV.

“How long has it been since you’ve gotten any?” Billy continued with his inappropriate questioning, knowing that it made Caroline’s skin crawl. He looked at her and watched the lump in her throat as she swallowed and did her best to ignore him. “Is that why you’re such a bitch?”

“Is that why _you_ are?” Caroline sneered immediately, doing her best to keep her eyes on the TV show.

Billy licked his lips and chuckled at her response. “Just kidding. We all know that you’re a virgin. Little Miss Goody Two Shoes,” Billy condescendingly mused.

Caroline felt her breath hitch in her throat. Her cheeks flushed at the mentioning of virginity, especially hearing it come from Billy’s mouth. It was no secret how _experienced_ Billy was when it came to sex. He had always been a bully to her, but over the years he had started looking at her differently. Most notably within the last few weeks-- the way he stared at her, smirked, and wagged his tongue suggestively made her feel terribly uncomfortable. She instinctively pressed her knees together tightly.

He rested his head back against the couch and rolled himself to look at her. He could see the uneasiness in the way she squeezed her body tightly against the edge of the couch and avoided his gaze.

Billy raised his hand up to her shoulder and gently seized a wavy section of Caroline’s hair between his index and middle fingers, slowly dragging his hand downward and allowing the wisp to slide through his fingers until it nearly reached the end of his grasp.

“But don’t you worry,” Billy derisively assured her, “pretty girls like you don’t stay virgins for very long.”

Caroline swiftly slapped his hand away from her, opting not to give him the satisfaction of a verbal response.

Billy huffed and looked back at the television before grumbling, “Fucking cow,” and finishing the rest of his beer in three gulps. He crumpled the aluminum can in his fingers as if it were paper and tossed it to the side. It clanked when it hit the hardwood floor.

“Make up your mind, Billy,” Caroline heaved a sigh, never moving her head from the position in which it rested against her hand. “Am I a pretty girl or am I cow?”

She half expected a backhand across the face but was surprised when his only response was a raspy, “Blow me.”

“You’d have to grow a dick first,” she surprised even herself with that comment.

Billy’s head snapped in her direction. Seeing this out of the corner of her eye, she automatically flinched and raised her hand up by her face to brace for impact. Like a viper, Billy’s hand lashed out at her own, coiling his fingers tightly around her petite wrist and forcing her hand down to the bulge at the front of his pants.

Caroline’s jaw went slack as she gasped in shock. She did her best to keep her hand flat, to not grab or touch anything as she struggled to pull her hand away. Billy promptly cupped his other hand crudely over hers, holding both her wrist and her hand in place as she felt him harden beneath her touch. This was a first. The only thing between her hand and his penis was a thin patch of cotton fabric. Her heart beat faster and she swore that her face must have been scarlet red by now. Throughout all the uneasy and awkward stares and moments between them, there had never before been touching like this. Pinching, yes. Pushing, of course. Hitting, often. But never touching of a sexual nature.

He stared at her soullessly with no regard for her comfort or boundaries. Leaning in closer to speak with a low voice that only the two of them could hear, she stopped moving.

“Does it feel like I’m lacking in the dick department?” Billy curled his lip and looked at her eyes and then her mouth, imagining the possibilities.

Assuming the question was rhetorical, Caroline remained silent. When his question remained unanswered, he shook her wrist once against himself and pushed down, forcing her to press her hand harder against his erection.

“Does it?” he harassed her for an answer.

Submissively, Caroline responded in a hushed and embarrassed voice, “No.”

Billy again leaned in closer, his nose grazing against her soft hair. Caroline scrunched her shoulder and tilted her neck in an effort to shield her ear and side of her face. He breathed roughly through his nose, sending short bursts of air against her hair and causing it to hit against her cheek rhythmically.

“Didn’t think so,” Billy remarked, rubbing her hand in circles against himself a few times before brusquely pushing her hand away and standing himself up from the couch.

He looked down at her and smirked as he reached down into his pants and adjusted himself vulgarly with a grunt. “Sweet dreams,” he winked and made his exit from the living room.

Caroline couldn’t believe what had just happened. It wasn’t until he left the room that she noticed she had stopped breathing. She exhaled rapidly and took in a few short breaths, bringing her hand to her chest as she tried to steady her breathing and calm her thrashing heart. She didn’t know how she would be able to look at him in the morning or be alone with him ever again after the interaction they just had.


	5. Chapter 5

Max kicked her feet behind her while she laid on her belly atop of Caroline’s twin-sized bed, reading her sister’s monthly edition of _Seventeen Magazine_. She skimmed over the article _“Get Him to Notice You”_ and puckered her lips questioningly. She lowered the magazine just enough to be able to peer up at Caroline from the top of the pages. Max quietly studied Caroline for a moment as she leaned closer to the mirror on her wall and applied a layer of mascara to her already long lashes.

The amount of time and effort that Caroline sometimes spent on her appearance seemed exhausting to Max. Caroline’s long locks were wrapped tightly in dozens of curlers, snaked all over her scalp like Medusa. She looked ridiculous with her mouth wide open as she separated her lashes to get the exact look she going for. The ruby red lipstick that had been previously applied was a seductive shade that Max didn’t typically see on her sister. It was amazing how much it seemed to change her appearance, matured her. Caroline reached for her bottle of Aqua Net and heavily drenched her wrapped hair with one final coat of the sticky substance to ensure that the desired shape would set once the tubes were removed.

Max pinched a strand of her own red hair and examined it before looking at Caroline’s again. The color was different. The texture was different, much coarser and more straggly. She definitely took more after Dad’s side of the family except for the color, which she got without-a-doubt from Mom. She saw Caroline smooth her eyebrows, and Max unconsciously felt her own brows.

Caroline was dressed as Sandy Olsson from the movie _Grease_. The black knit polyester pants clung tightly to her skin, showing Caroline’s exact womanly form of what was underneath. The off-shoulder portrait neckline of her equally tight-fitting shirt showed a slight amount of rounded cleavage as Caroline leaned forward. Max looked down at the collar of her own costume: a navy-blue jumpsuit channeling _Halloween_ serial killer Michael Myers and a barely-there chest.

Looking again at Caroline, she wondered, _“Is this what boys like? Is this how boys expect girls to look?”_ If so, then Max was nowhere near meeting the expectation. Caroline stood straight and looked herself over in the mirror, smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in her outfit and adjusting the silver clasp of her belt to ensure it was perfectly centered at her waist.

Max bit the bullet and decided to ask the question that had been gnawing at her today. “How do you know if a boy likes you?”

Caroline turned her head and a small smile crept onto her face. Max was often quiet and didn’t share the same interests as Caroline. It was rare that Max asked for advice, aside from how to handle situations with Billy—of which they had developed a mutual closeness.

“You’re asking me about boys?” she had a hint of elation in her voice.

Max nodded her head silently.

“Well,” Caroline started to unroll her hair from her curlers as she walked over to her bed. She sat herself on the floor in front of Max and leaned against the bedframe. “Here, help me with these,” she persuaded.

Max closed the magazine and changed her position on the bed, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress on either side of Caroline while she worked slowly at unrolling sections of hair, one by one.

“Is there a certain boy you have in mind?” Caroline slowly unraveled a section of hair at the front of her head, allowing the tight spiral to bounce freely before her eye. She dropped the empty soft dowel to the floor once it was removed from the confines of her hair and rubbed at the skin beneath her hair to alleviate the itch that had built up from the tautness of the coil.

Vehemently shaking her head, Max clarified, “No, just wondering.”

“Okaaaay,” Caroline couldn’t help but smile. She knew when Max was lying. Her responses were always so fast and short when she lied. Unfortunately, Billy also recognized this flaw in her. “Well, uhm… sometimes when a boy likes you, he has a hard time putting that into words. So, he usually expresses it in the way he acts when he’s around you.”

“Like… how?” Max wrinkled her nose.

“Well,” Caroline started again and beamed at the thought of her recent interaction with Steve. “Sometimes he steals quick glances at you when he thinks you’re not paying attention. Or, maybe you look over and notice that he’s been looking at you for a while, and he smiles at you…”

Caroline dropped her smile into a frown as her thoughts of Steve were immediately replaced by thoughts of Billy. How he looks over at her when they’re in his car; how he stared at her at dinner like a predator ready to pounce on its prey; how he had burned his gaze through her skull last night on the couch; how he had smirked and wagged his tongue at her. Maybe this wasn’t the best way to communicate to Max to gauge a healthy interest in the opposite sex.

“Uhm,” she smiled again, thinking of the electricity that she felt surge through her arm all the way to her chest when Steve’s fingers had lightly brushed against hers the other day. “Sometimes they go out of their way to make contact with you… like gently grazing your fingers when you pass them a notebook or a pen, putting their hand on your shoulder as they walk past you… or brushing your hair out of your face…”

Again, her thoughts progressed from Steve to Billy. The way Billy had clasped her hair between his fingers last night, although gentle, had not been welcomed nor sweet. She inhaled sharply at the memory of his steel fingers locking around her wrist and forcing her hand to a place where she didn’t want it to be. How he had enveloped her hand with his own, creating an overwhelming sense of helplessness and vulnerability. This wasn’t what it looked like when someone liked you.

“But, uhm,” Caroline resumed unrolling her hair from another curler, “I think it mostly has to do with how they make you feel, you know?”

Max nodded her head and thought about the things that Caroline mentioned. “What if they make you feel like garbage sometimes?”

Caroline turned to face her little sister. She could see the hurt in her face. She most definitely had somebody in mind when she was asking these questions. You don’t experience that kind of hurt and disappointment unless there was something that happened.

“Then, they’re probably not worth your time,” Caroline tenderly stated. Max nodded and bit the inside of her lip. “Who’s making you feel like garbage?” Caroline gently prodded. “Billy?”

Max chuckled, “No. I mean… yeah, always… but no.”

Caroline took Max’s lack of additional information as a sign that she was likely done with the topic of boys. At least for now.

A thought crossed her mind that made her blood run cold and sent a shiver down her spine. Flashbacks of last night’s interactions with Billy continued to play through her mind. She absentmindedly rubbed her wrist as she played the scene over and over in her head. That smile. That sick, sadistic, insensitive wink. The way he moved her hand on himself as if it didn’t belong to her, as if it was his to do with as he pleased. Their reluctance to tattle on Billy to their mom and Neil made it easy for Billy to get away with things. A lot of things. And he knew it. Caroline at least felt like there were times that she could stand up to Billy, probably more so than Max. This may make Max an easier target for some things that Billy would feel more confident in his ability to get away with.

“Hey, Max,” Caroline lowered her eyes to the floor, embarrassed to bring it up but desperate to know if her sister was safe.

“Hmm?” Max ran a finger through a tight curl to separate it.

Caroline licked her lips and forced herself to look at Max’s face, so innocent with the last fragments of baby fat that were slowly, but surely, fading more and more each year. “Do you feel… safe… around Billy?”

Max narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

 _How can I say it without saying it,_ Caroline thought. “I mean… do you… has Billy ever…” she felt like she could throw up from embarrassment right now. “Uhm… I guess what I’m trying to ask you is…” Max shot her a puzzled look and waited patiently for her to spit it out. “Has Billy ever made you do things you didn’t want to do?” Caroline blurted out as quickly as possible, knowing that if she hesitated any further then she would probably not be able to say it.

“Liiiiike… hiiiis chooores?” Max perplexed, drawing out the length of each word as she spoke them.

Caroline interpreted this confusion and lack of embarrassment and shame on Max’s part as the answer that she was hoping for. The fact that her mind _didn’t go there_ was a relief. She exhaled sharply and released a titter. Uncertain of why, Max did the same until they found themselves in a near uncontrollable giggle fit.

Aggressively loud knocking at the bedroom door broke up their laughter. _“I’m leaving in five minutes with or without you,”_ Billy’s gruff voice announced from behind the closed door.

Caroline and Max glanced at each other and stifled their laughter. “Coming!” they both said in unison, mimicking the chipper tone that they know annoys the hell out of him.

Caroline ran her fingers through her hair to release some of the curls and massage her scalp. “How does it look?”

Max grabbed her Michael Myers mask from the bed and put it on, pulling it down over her face. She responded with a muffled, “Poofy.” Caroline laughed. _Perfect._

“Oh, wait wait wait,” Susan said and quickly walked around the dining room table with her Polaroid instant film camera as Max and Caroline exited the bedroom. Caroline slipped on a leather jacket to complete her ensemble and flipped her hair out. “I want to get a picture of you all.” Susan held the camera against her belly and with her opposite hand waved for the kids to stand together. “Stand together.”

Billy rolled his eyes and sighed, standing still while the girls walked over to him. He wore his leather jacket zipped halfway up his chest, his hairless pecs barely visible. Fingerless, leather gloves encased his hands. His loose, curly hair was less unruly than it had been earlier in the day. It was obvious that he had taken some time to spruce himself up, but for the most part he looked no different than he did any other time on any other day.

_Not much of a costume. What a killjoy._

Caroline stood beside him and pulled Max to her side, wrapping her arm over her shoulders but neglecting to do the same to Billy. The smell of his Paco Rabanne cologne was overwhelming. The sickeningly sweet, floral, and musky combination was enough to cause a headache. She took a step away from him and placed her free hand on her hip, shifting her weight to one leg.

Susan brought the camera up to her face to look through the viewfinder. “Say: _Happy Halloween.”_

“Happy Halloween!” Max and Caroline exclaimed at the same time as the flash went off and the thin blank film slid out the front of the camera. Caroline smiled, and even though she was wearing a mask, so did Max out of habit. Billy remained silent and unmoved, his head cocked slightly to the side with irritation.

 _How tiresome it must be to constantly act so pissed off at everything,_ Caroline thought to herself. Still, she was bound and determined to not let Billy Hargrove ruin her night out.


	6. Chapter 6

Caroline leaned forward in her seat as the Camaro came to a crawl, its driver cautious of the scatterbrained attendees who walked between the cars without care or hesitation. Her eyes slightly enlarged at the sight of how many people were present at this party. Being inexperienced with parties, she had assumed that it would just be a few people, maybe a classroom full. She wasn’t expecting what appeared to be the whole entire school crammed into one house, albeit a rather large house. There was quite a substantial crowd outside spread throughout the lawn and driveway, and from what she could see through the windows, there was a significant group inside, as well. She wondered if she would be able to even find Steve in the cascading sea of people.

Billy exited the vehicle without a word between them the entire drive. Caroline followed suit and stayed a few steps behind him, not feeling the need to catch up. They wouldn’t be spending time together here.

“I’ll find you when I’m ready to leave,” Billy declared from in front of her as he unzipped his jacket, making his way to a crowd of teenage boys that were chanting numbers along with rhythmic recitals of encouragement to _‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’_

She took her time walking to the house, carefully placing her weight over the unevenness of the ground beneath her red high heels. Once inside, she scanned the crowd for a familiar face. Even though she had a friendly disposition towards everyone at school, she was caught off-guard by how many people she really didn’t know. There were familiar faces, but very few familiar names.

“Caroline!” she heard a girl call out over the loud rock music from the other side of the room. She looked in the direction from which it came and internally rolled her eyes. _Carol._ Carol held a red cup in the air as she pushed herself through the dancing mob to make her way over to Caroline.

Caroline considered herself an amiable person able to make friends with anyone, but boy did she have difficulty tolerating Carol. She just wasn’t that nice of a person. She was nice enough to Caroline, but she would make comments to her about other people that made her want to not be associated.

She placed a fake smile on her face and responded with, “Hey,” as Carol approached her.

“Good to see yooouuuuu,” she drunkenly slurred and smacked her gum loudly between her teeth as she went in for a hug. Caroline towered over her in her heels. “I _love_ your outfiiiiit,” she squealed.

“Thanks, I…”

Carol interrupted her, “Where’s that brother of yours?” She stood on her tiptoes and craned her neck to look past Caroline in search of him. Even though Carol was with Tommy, she sure wasn’t shy about her wandering eye. She maintained the attitude that ‘ _there’s nothing wrong with looking.’_

Recognizing the superficial engagement of their conversation, Caroline decided to give up and just motion behind her to the area outside where the horde of partygoers had gathered into a circle and was starting over again with their sequential counting.

“Thanks, doll,” Carol patted Caroline’s upper arm and walked past her, abandoning the interaction without further exchange.

Caroline scoffed and shook her head, not surprised (considering the type of person Carol was) but still amazed at the behavior that she would not dream of partaking in herself. Her eyes began scanning the room again for a familiar face.

 _There he was._ Steve Harrington, in all his beautiful glory. He stood in the open kitchen, talking to a group of students from their science class, people that Caroline actually knew. His thick hair was brushed back from his face in a sort of pompadour-like style, a pair of black sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose. She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling at the sight of him. From afar, she watched him engage in a conversation that he was clearly enjoying. His hands were animated as he spoke, flying through the air and causing the sides of his black-on-black jacket to flap against his flat abdomen. He threw his head back to let out a sincere laugh that forced Caroline to release her lip from her teeth and fully smile at him, adoring the candid happiness he was experiencing in that moment.

Just as she was about to make her way to where he was standing, a girl approached from the side and playfully slapped her on the back while shoving a red cup full of frothy, dark red liquid into her hand. Caroline promptly steadied the cup in her hand as the drink threatened to slosh over the rim.

“You’re looking a little empty-handed there, toots,” the girl smiled.

“Uh,” Caroline looked up from the cup at the unfamiliar girl. “Thanks…”

“TEE-NAH,” the girl over-pronounced her own name in a sarcastic jest of a response to Caroline’s confusion.

“Tina,” Caroline offered a small smile. “Ohhh, Tina,” she said with realization this time. “This is your party?” she made small talk.

Tina’s smile broadened as she stood proudly. “Sure is.”

Caroline looked around at the toilet paper streamers hanging from the soft yellow lights on the ceiling. She imagined the house would be beautiful sans the littered mess of empty beer cans, crushed cups, and spilled drinks all over the floor.

“You have a really nice house,” Caroline talked over the music, not sure what else to say to the girl she had just met. “Thanks for having me.”

“Of course,” Tina smiled and stared a few seconds too long for Caroline’s comfort. “Soooo, you’re Billy’s sister, right?”

Caroline stood still—expressionless – resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she just stared at Tina, wondering what it was that every girl saw in Billy. He was a complete and utter asshole with no regard for anyone but himself. He doused himself in Paco Rabanne Pour Homme cologne, which if used in moderation wouldn’t have been so bad, but he practically smelled like he bathed in it. The astronomical level of narcissism in combination with a sharp tongue and unpredictable rage was something that could make even the most beautiful specimen repulsive. She did not understand why these girls sought out that very thing from him. What was so enticing about chasing after and seeking attention from a _bad boy?_ Caroline lived with a bad boy. Nothing was great about it. There was nothing fun about picking up shattered pieces of priceless knickknacks that had been a gift from her father in her childhood… nothing fun about cleaning up a bloody nose and shopping for a foundation strong enough to cover a bruise because if Neil or Mom had seen it and asked questions there would be four more to match it in places where they wouldn’t be seen. It was not fun comforting her younger sister who believed that she was hated just for existing. There was nothing sexy about feeling like an object not allowed to have her own thoughts or desires because it didn’t correspond with what Billy thought or desired, constantly feeling like she had to walk on eggshells in her own home just to be able to have a moment of peace and Goddamned quiet.

“ _Step-_ sister,” Caroline corrected, just barely hiding her disgust. As she did with Carol, she pointed behind her to the growing mass of drunkenness outside where Billy could be found. “He’s out there.”

Tina practically radiated with excitement as she pushed back her shoulders to make her perky breasts more noticeable. She started to walk away but then backtracked, “We should hang out sometime.”

Caroline nodded and offered a pitiful salute of agreement before Tina made her exit. Caroline looked down into the cup and raised it to her nose. It smelled strong. She was never one to drink, aside from the occasional sip of wine at holidays or special occasions. She didn’t even know what the drink smelled like except to just identify it as _alcohol._ She brought the cup to her lips and slowly took a taste. It was fruity and cold yet burned a bit going down. The strong vapers from the alcohol elicited a muffled shiver from her and she coughed.

“Heeeeey, there she is,” Steve announced as he made his way over to her. “Sweeeeeet Caaaroliiine,” he said in sing-song form.

“Bah bah bah!” the nearby group chimed in without missing a beat, referencing the popular Neil Diamond song that usually found its way into conversation within the first few minutes of someone new meeting her.

Caroline blushed at the sudden onslaught of attention. He smiled as the two exchanged looks for a few seconds. Steve’s eyes swiftly examined her outfit from head to toe and back up again. “Nice costume. _Grease?”_

“Yeah,” she affirmed cheerfully. She held her hand out to show her attention to his outfit. “I like yours, too. Tom Cruise, _Risky Business,_ right?”

“Yeah,” Steve looked down at himself and grabbed the edges of his jacket, holding them out slightly and spinning around once for a good look-over. “I was gonna go for the underwear, socks, and white button-down look, but I figured this would be more appropriate.”

Caroline laughed, perhaps a little too eagerly, and approved, “Good choice.”

Steve smiled a closed-mouth smile and nodded his head, returning his hands to his hips. “I’d offer you a drink, but I see you already have one,” he tapped on his hips with a smile.

Caroline looked down at the drink in her hand. “Oh. Yeah. Uh, Tina brought it to me. I don’t know what’s in it, but,” she took another sip in front of him to prove herself as courageous and stifled the shiver that had involuntarily overtaken her the first time, “it’s not bad.”

The noise from the outside crowd out of the blue became louder, as if they became more confident in their counting abilities. _“Nineteen! Twenty! Twenty-one!”_ they continued. Caroline turned her head to look and see what was happening. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, encircling a pair of denim legs in the air with black boots that she recognized as Billy’s.

“You wanna come up and meet a few of my friends?” Steve interjected, bringing her attention back to him.

Caroline turned to face him again and smiled, nodding her head without speaking. Steve placed his hand on her mid back to gently guide her back to the area that he had been standing when she first saw him.

He introduced her to a few friends, but her heart sank into the pit of her stomach when he introduced her to Nancy… his _girlfriend_. Nancy was pretty and dressed modestly, something that suddenly made Caroline feel incredibly self-conscious about her own costume choice. Caroline had two classes with Steve, and Nancy wasn’t in either class. She felt like an idiot for not putting two and two together when he mentioned yesterday that _“We… me and Nancy”_ wanted to know if she wanted to go to the party with them. In her naivete, she had assumed, or rather had hoped, that Nancy was _just a friend._ Because what boy with a girlfriend would invite another girl to a party? It was then that Caroline realized that _she_ herself was _just a friend._ Suddenly this party was no longer fun, and Caroline felt out of place, like a third wheel.

Caroline forced a smile and interacted with Nancy. She was a lovely girl, very polite with her, and showed interest in having a conversation that never once mentioned Billy. She could see why Steve liked her. She was perfect.

 _“Billy! Billy! Billy! Billy!”_ the outside group chanted.

Loud roars of accomplishment echoed at the open doorway, drawing Caroline’s attention just in time to see Billy walk into the house with Tommy patting him on the back. His chest and chin glistened and he grasped a lit cigarette between his fingers as he slithered his way through a group of dancing teens like the serpent that he was. Caroline watched him stop briefly and tear a streamer of toilet paper down from the ceiling, seemingly mesmerized by it, his eyes glassy and intoxicated. Just then, their eyes met from across the room. His eyes quickly darted to the boy standing beside her and then back to her again. _Shit_. Billy propped the cigarette between his lips and resumed a quickened pace towards her, jumping over an obstacle and climbing up the step to get to where she was. Tommy and another boy were hot on his trail.

“We’ve got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington,” Tommy taunted out of nowhere.

Billy’s vulturine eyes shifted from Caroline to Steve in a silent display of machoism. His shoulders pushed back, displaying his taut muscular chest like a peacock.

 _“Yeah, that’s right.” - “Yeah, eat it, Harrington,”_ another boy aggressively postured.

Nancy walked away without saying a word, clearly unamused at the testosterone driven showdown. Steve stood still and appeared to have a look of perplexity about his face, uncertain of what to say, how to respond, or why he was being ganged up on. They stood there staring at each other for a few seconds before Billy looked back down at Caroline and nodded in Steve’s direction.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Billy flatly said, the smell of beer emanating from his pores.

Irritated, Caroline tersely acquainted them, “Billy, Steve. Steve, Billy.” Billy smirked a devilish grin. _Ah, the famous Steve._

“Charmed,” Steve indignantly responded to Billy. He then became aware that Nancy was no longer standing near him. He looked around the room and saw her standing at the punch bowl on the kitchen island. “Excuse me,” he uttered, and stepped between Caroline and Billy to make his way over to his girlfriend.

Billy turned and kicked his boot behind him, leaning against the wall as he sharply puffed on his cigarette and lowered it from his lips, flicking the glowing ash onto the bare floor. He watched the interplay between Steve and Nancy from afar. He had pissed off enough girls who thought their trysts meant they were in a relationship to know _that_ angry exchange. 

“Ah, that’s Stevie-boy’s girlfriend, huh?” he teased. Caroline watched Steve longingly, her silence being enough of a reply to Billy. Returning the cigarette to his lips he shook his head. “Tough break,” he said with feigned desolation. He pushed himself away from the wall, purposefully bumping his shoulder against Caroline’s as he walked away to rejoin his buddies.

Caroline grumbled as her drink sloshed over the rim and landed on her hand at his impact. She looked down at it and then hastily brought it to her lips. She held her breath as she chugged the drink until it was gone, not allowing herself time to change her mind. She was going to need more to get through the rest of the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Billy zipped up his fly as he made his way briskly down the stairs. He was frustrated. What had started out as decent head ended with the girl gagging, puking, and crying, leaving Billy unsatisfied and pissed off as he heard erotic moans from other nearby rooms—a blatant reminder of his own lack of climax. He couldn’t even remember her name. Tina? Tammy? Theresa? Whatever, it didn’t matter. She had apologized and tried to save face, offering to continue and promising not to gag this time as his girth filled her mouth and poked at the back of her sensitive throat. Her mascara ran down her face in thin trails of black ink and pooled at her chin in a thick bead. He was disgusted, and he could do better.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he paused and looked around the room for Caroline, having grown bored and wanting to escape the smell of vomit and desperation. The party was dying down but still somewhat strong. There were fewer people moving around, that was for sure. Some were passed out on the couch, some were getting it on in the bedrooms upstairs, and some had already called it a night. He slowly started walking again, bumping against people shamelessly as he skimmed the area.

 _There._ He saw her in the dining room area, swaying her hips lazily to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ _I Love Rock ’n’ Roll_ , dipping her head down, stretching her arms in the air-- drink in hand-- before bringing them back down, rubbing her fingers through her curled mane and taking another sip. Her hair was slightly less curly than what it had been when they first arrived. Time, sweat, and heat from the party had all done their part to undo the efforts that took her so long to prepare. A few of the other girls from school were sitting on the tabletop, talking to each other, laughing, and watching Caroline dance by herself.

Billy was ready to leave, but not before he observed Caroline for another minute. She moved so freely, unaware or unconcerned about the intense level of tantalizing seductiveness exuding from every inch of body. Her skin-tight pants creased where her upper legs met her curvaceous posterior, suggesting just how soft and sumptuous she would feel pressed up against him. She certainly had filled out over the years. Gone was the lanky teen who was all knees and elbows. She had been replaced by a woman so completely oblivious of her own allure that she couldn’t see how incredibly exasperated it made him that she was off limits to him. _Fuck._ He felt the strange pang of blue balls tugging within his pants, signaling him to readjust himself as he made his way over to her.

“Yeah, totally,” Carol laughed at something Caroline had said. “Hey, Billy,” she tittered, swinging her short legs back and forth from her spot on the table whilst drumming her long nails on the polished wood.

He ignored her greeting and stopped short of Caroline. “Caroline. Time to go,” he sniffled once and rubbed his nose with his thumb and index finger, waiting for her to turn around and follow him compliantly to the car.

Caroline casually turned to face him. Her once bright-red lipstick now faded to a mere pink stain on her pouty lips, washed away by the six cups of spiked punch that she had been guzzling throughout the night. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyelids were visibly heavy—the telltale signs of intoxication evident on her porcelain face.

“Nooo,” she griped, “I’m just starting to have fuuuun.”

An amused smirk pulled at one corner of his mouth. This was a side of Caroline that he had never seen before. He reached forward and took the cup from her hand, ignoring her protesting whine, and sniffed the contents. She was drunk. _Little Miss Goody Two Shoes actually did something that her parents wouldn’t approve of._

“Well, well, well,” he teased with a hint of astonishment in his voice as he threw his head back and finished off the now lukewarm drink, “Caroline, you are totally shitfaced.”

Carol, Vicki, and Nicole chuckled.

Caroline blustered with mistaken self-confidence. “Pfffffffft,” she spit a little bit, “I’m just… a _little bit_ buzzed.” She squinted her eyes and showed her perceived measurement of inebriation as she held up an inch of space between her thumb and index finger.

“Buzzed or not, it’s time to go. So, come on,” he placed the empty cup on the table and waved his hand calmly, “let’s go.”

“No,” Caroline shortly sulked, leaning against the table directly beside Carol. “I’m talking with my friends,” she slurred.

This newfound confidence with being disobedient to him was another side of Caroline that he wasn’t used to seeing so outright, and it made his loins twitch with a mix of excitement and aggravation. “Let’s,” he paused, his patience stretched thin, “go.”

“Psht,” she dismissed him with garbled words, “you’re not my Dad.”

Carol, Vicki, and Nicole remained captivatingly quiet. Their eyes dashed back and forth between Caroline and Billy in this miniature face-off, curious to see his next move.

Billy released a low, forced chuckle at her defiance. “If I have to carry you out of here kicking and screaming, I will,” he maintained his smirk with a burning gaze, hiding the fury building within him while others witnessed the interaction.

The three girls shot their gaze to Caroline and waited. His voice was so deep and guttural that it could have been easily mistaken for ravenous lust if not for the fact that this was his sister he was talking to.

Caroline’s eyes narrowed as she pondered his words. There was no way he would do anything in front of these girls, or anyone aside from Max for that matter, that would hinder his lady-killer image. He wouldn’t hit her. Not here. But, Caroline was so drunk that she could barely comprehend the current moment, much less consider any consequences that may occur five minutes from now when they were no longer surrounded by watchful eyes.

“No, you won’t,” Caroline interpreted his threat as a bluff.

The vein in his neck pulsated as he tensed his jaw, the way he usually did when he was trying to hold himself back from giving in to his rage. _No one told him what he would or would not do._ His tongue jutted out to wet his bottom lip before he bit it and chortled with irritation.

He lunged forward non-threateningly at her hips, wrapping his arms around her upper legs and forcing her to bend over his right shoulder as he lifted her effortlessly in one fell swoop.

“Hey!” Caroline yelped in protest, grabbing a handful of his leather jacket at his lower back in fear that she would fall. Her arms felt heavy and the room started to spin as the blood all at once rushed to her head.

“Say ‘Good night,’ Caroline,” Billy calmly told her as he walked toward the door.

“Billy, put me…” Caroline had started but then switched her attention to her new party-friends, replacing her objection with defeat, “Niiiight.”

“See ya,” Carol laughed with her mouth slightly agape as she practically broke her neck to turn and watch them leave.

The three girls looked at each other with fascination for a second before scuttling off the table and sprinting to the doorway. They nearly knocked each other over when they stopped at the open entrance, observing Billy coolly stride across the lawn to the row of cars at the far end of the property with Caroline slung over his shoulder like she weighed nothing at all.

“Okay, I can _not_ be the only one who thought that was hot, right?” Vicki glanced at her two friends before returning her hypnotized eyes to Billy’s muscular form.

“That was _totally_ hot,” Nicole bit her lip and twirled her hair, jealous of the position Caroline was in.

Vicki quietly simpered, “Do you think they’ve _done it_?”

“They’re step-siblings, Vick,” Carol shot down the question condescendingly.

“Exactly. No more related to him than you or me,” she argued.

Carol scoffed, “They’re _still_ brother and sister.” 

“Oh, come on. You mean to tell me that if you lived in the same house as him that you wouldn’t?” Vicki challenged with a roll of her eyes to Carol, knowing just the kind of effect that Billy had on every girl in their school. Carol remained quiet, unable to truthfully deny it.

“I totally would,” Nicole breathlessly admitted.

Vicki peered back out at Billy and Caroline again, her eyes landing on Billy’s perfectly toned backside. She marveled at Caroline’s self-restraint to remain hands-off although she was so close to it.

“ _God_ ,” Vicki sighed. “If my mother had married his father, I would’ve killed her.”

“I’d be pregnant within a month,” Nicole concurred.

The girls snickered as they fantasized domestic life with the desirable Billy Hargrove.

* * * * *

Billy rather roughly propped Caroline against the car with his groin pressed up against her thigh as he opened the passenger door. He picked her up again in his arms, plopping her down onto the front seat as if she were a ragdoll. He slammed the door and trudged in front of the car to get to his own seat. Caroline pressed her hand to her forehead in an effort to relieve the instant throbbing from the jerky movements.

Billy sat in his seat and loudly exhaled through his nose. They sat in the darkness, away from the commotion and illumination of the party. Caroline felt like she could throw up, her head was pounding so hard. She closed her eyes, hoping that it would alleviate the spinning of the world in front of her. She heard his leather seat creak as he shifted his weight, assuming that he was just getting comfortable before starting the engine.

Without warning, Billy’s fingers harshly seized her lower jaw. Caroline gasped and her eyes flew open, mechanically raising her hand to his wrist in a nonverbal request for removal as she squirmed against the cold window to move further away from him.

He leaned towards her menacingly, nose upturned and eyes like daggers. She felt the hard metal of his thick ring on his middle finger digging into her skin as he relentlessly pressed it into the edge of her jawbone. Caroline grunted, certain that if she opened her mouth to speak in this exact moment that she would throw up.

“When I tell you to do something,” Billy snarled with a raspy voice, “you do it. Do you understand me?”

Caroline felt her brain bang against the inside of her head when she nodded.

“Say it,” he growled with exposed teeth.

She barely moved her lips and gritted her teeth together to keep the creeping contents inside, “I understand.”

“Good,” Billy curtly accepted her submissiveness. He placed a gentle, almost playful, slap against her cheek as he released his grip from her face.

Caroline rubbed at her jaw to sooth the dull ache that remained even after his fingers were gone. The car started with a rumbling roar and blaring music too loud for Caroline to tolerate. Billy harshly pressed on the gas pedal, and with a jerk they were on their way.

They had driven for several minutes in silence with nothing but the music between them. Billy looked over at her stationary form and how she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her legs were sprawled somewhat open, her shoes already kicked off. He lowered the volume of the radio so that she could more clearly hear him.

“Jesus,” he laughed looking again at the road, “you can’t handle your liquor, huh?”

Caroline didn’t bother looking at him but did open her eyes with more alertness as she rubbed her face. “I didn’t know what was in it.”

“Yeah, well, you’d better sober up fast if you don’t want questioned to the nth degree,” Billy warned her of his father’s tendency to interrogate and correct bad behavior.

Caroline shifted in her seat and sat taller, rubbing her legs back and forth from top to knee to keep herself awake. This drew Billy’s attention. There was nothing sensual about it, but Billy had been aroused without climax and the ache of precluded gratification left him starving for completion. He faintly bucked his hips and then attempted to cover this by moving in his seat to get more comfortable while groaning a fake cough and brushing his hair away from his neck.

This drew Caroline’s attention. She saw a dark colored mark at the base of his neck where it met his shoulder. She sharpened her focus with narrowed eyes and the slightest slant closer. A hickey. _No surprise._

“Whose handy work is that?” Caroline droned, having not seen Billy all night save for the time he interrupted her mingling with Steve and Nancy.

He looked at her inquisitively for clarification and she reached out and pressed the purpling circle on his warm skin. The slightest shiver traveled down to his belly and settled in his groin. He tipped his head to the side and glanced in the rearview at what Caroline had been referring to and grinned when he saw it.

Billy settled back into his seat and cockily asked, “You jealous, Mayfield?”

It annoyed Caroline greatly when he referred to her by her last name like she was one of the guys. _Jealous_ was the last thing that Caroline would ever feel of Billy Hargrove or any girl he bedded.

“ _Why_ would I be _jealous_?” Caroline’s tone dripped with disdain.

He stared straight ahead at the double yellow lines. “Because you expected Steve to follow you around like a lost puppy, but instead he left you crying like a bitch in heat.”

Caroline’s heart throbbed in her temples. She bit her tongue to try and repress the word vomit she was about to spew, knowing that Billy likely would not respond well to it. He looked at her to make sure she was still awake and that she had heard him. _She did._ Her mouth puckered in a fuming expression of animosity. He had no regard for how his words made her feel… why should she care about how words affect him? For one, he could beat the life out of her with no more thought than snapping a twig or stomping out one of cigarettes. But, she was drunk, and she didn’t think about that.

“Oh, so that’s from Tommy H. then?” Caroline quipped.

“What?” Billy narrowed his eyes, glancing back and forth between her and the road.

“He was following you around like a lost puppy at the party,” Caroline pointed out, “ergo, that _must_ be from Tommy H.”

Billy shot his eyes back to the road and took short, shallow breaths. _She might as well had called him “faggot” like his father did._ His eyebrow arched involuntarily. Every muscle in his face was tighter than the pants she was wearing. He bit the inside of his lip so hard he thought it would bleed. _She has some nerve._ As if spring loaded, his arm bolted out to the side, backhanding Caroline across the mouth with hard knuckles.

Caroline sobbed a startled breath and jerked her body instinctively away from his, bringing her hand up to her mouth and covering it in shock. It stung, but it hadn’t hurt _that_ bad. It certainly wasn’t the worst he had ever done. She rubbed the skin around her lips slowly to sooth the sting, hardly noticing that her breathing was starting to match Billy’s. _Typical Billy. He can dish it out, but he can’t take it._ Uncertain if it was the booze or the fact that she had been growing more and more intolerant of his overuse of power and strength over her, she decided to go tit-for-tat.

Delivering an equally powerful blow, her flat palm connected to the front of his face with a resounding _smack._ “Screw you!” she screamed.

Billy ducked his head and raised his shoulder. He hadn’t expected her to fight back… definitely not like this while he was driving. His heart pumped ferociously as he held a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, feeling like he could tear it from the steering column at any minute.

“Fucking _bitch!_ ” Billy yelled in response.

He saw that they were fast approaching the old Steelworks building. Billy speedily shifted to a lower gear and slammed his foot against the brake. Tires squealed as the car fishtailed in a surprisingly semi-controlled maneuver to the empty, dirt and gravel lot on the opposite side of the road. Clouds of dust engulfed the Camaro when it came to a full stop several yards back from the roadway. Billy angrily opened his door and got out, slamming it with all his might. He stomped with purpose to the front of the car and made his way over to the passenger side door.

Caroline was still partially in shock at the death-defying move that Billy had just executed. She came to her senses just as Billy was about to rip her door off its hinges. She leaned away from the door and brought her knees up, prepared to strike him in order to keep him away. However, his rage always kicked him into high gear and he was like a tornado, rapidly able to destroy anything in his path with ease.

“You wanna fight, huh?!” Billy rhetorically bellowed as he swung open her door.

With her knees already brought up close to her chest, it made it easy for him to wrap his hands behind her calves and pull her from the car.

“Get up!” he impatiently commanded as he made the decision for her.

Caroline yelped at this precipitous and turbulent action. Billy was too fast for her. He had already dragged her out of the car—barefoot—and grabbed handfuls of her leather lapels to force her up and ferociously against the cold metal outside the backseat of the car. Stones embedded themselves into the soft flesh of her feet. For good measure he pulled her forward slightly and slammed her back against the side of the car again, stealing the white-hot breath directly from her assaulted lungs.

She fought for control, trying with all her might to push her body away from the car to be able to switch roles. Her nails dug into the skin of his wrists as she unsuccessfully attempted to pry them away from her sternum.

“Ha _haaaaaa!”_ Billy obnoxiously laughed. “ _Wooooo!_ ” his thundering voice was earsplitting in her current state, “you got some _fire_ in you!” They continued to struggle with each other for control, achieving nothing more than pushing against each other. “Not gonna lie, I kinda like it,” he leered wildly.

When she could not free herself from his grasp, she drew back and smacked him again hard across his left cheek… hard enough for him to nearly lose his balance but not so forcefully that he dropped his hold. He stood straight for a split-second and they stared crossly at each other. Billy pulled her tightly up against his bare chest and snaked his right arm behind her, pushing her own right arm back so that he could latch her wrist behind her body while also detaining her left arm. He completed this repositioning so smoothly that it was clear to Caroline he had done this before. She was no match for him. He had been in far more fights than she; and, as someone who thirsted after control, it was no wonder that he knew how to gain it.

With her arms confined by his own, he grabbed a fistful of crunchy curls at the crown of her head and yanked so that she was forced to look up at him. Their breathing was unsteady. The amount of energy they each just put into this wrestling match was all they had.

In a symbolic display of dominance, Billy took a step forward, forcing her thighs apart with his knee so that he could plant his foot between her legs. She likely would have fallen had it not been for the fact that he was pinning her against the car. His pelvis disturbingly pushed against her right hip. His bare torso leaned against her. Their chests rose and fell in sync as they each came down off their high.

His icy blue eyes glowered into her own. She didn’t look away, refusing to let him know that she was terrified despite the familiar sensation of tears beginning to pool along her lower lids. He noticed it, too, and it brought that cocky smirk back to his face. He slowly inched his head forward to hers. Caroline was certain that he could feel the rapid thumping of her heart against his own chest, betraying her false show of fearlessness. So close was he that she could smell the sweet and musky scent of his cologne that he had placed behind his ears and feel the warm gusts of air from every exhalation. The look on his face was more relaxed and cocksure now that he had full control.

Billy continued to inch his face forward until he was cheek-to-cheek with Caroline. His lips brushed against her ear, the soft breeze of his words prickling her ear canal with a mild discomfort. Stubble from the previous day’s shave scratched against her jawline as his loose tresses swept at the corner of her mouth.

“I could do anything that I want to you out here,” he whispered with hoarse boldness, “and no one is around to stop me.”

Caroline was a statue. He couldn’t help but twitch a brief smile at her stillness, a far cry from how she was just a minute prior. Billy’s face caressed against hers as he slowly withdrew to look at her face again. As he pulled back, he released her hair. The curls fell back in place, some of them falling to his nose, which he fleetingly nuzzled and smelled before taking a step back. _Her hair smelled like his._

She was undecided if he had been referring to murder or something else when he made his ambiguous threat, but she knew it was a threat, nonetheless. He was the type of crazy that you couldn’t really call bullshit on when sober. Honest would not be a word she would use to describe him, but _a man of his word_ he was.

Her emotions flip-flopped like a fish out of water the more she thought about the threat, changing from fear to anger and a hundred others in between. Billy rubbed his thumb over her wrist in a reminded uninvited invasion of her body. The feeling in her stomach whirled and started to climb up her esophagus. The unspoken words dug their claws into her throat, begging to be released, begging to smack him in the face just as hard as her hand did. A bubble reached the back of her tongue.

_Here it comes. Word vomit. No…wait a second… it’s actual vomit._

Caroline sloppily rolled her body to the side and lurched forward, heaving the contents of that night’s festivities on the ground before her. The acidic mix of bile and alcohol brought the final release of those tears from her eyes while it burned her nose and throat. Billy jumped a step back and held his hands up and back out of the way.

“Jesus Christ,” Billy exclaimed with repugnance, averting his eyes and running his hand over the back of his head. _This was the second time tonight._

The ejection made her feel ten times better. The pressure that had been building at the back of her eyeballs subsided, as did the unforgiving spinning of the world directly in front of her. Now she couldn’t say that Billy never did anything for her. She immediately felt sober and alert.


	8. Chapter 8

That Monday at school, Caroline found herself sitting a few rows up on the wooden bleachers in the corner of the school gymnasium. She had a study period, so there was nothing important that she was missing. She caught herself a few times staring too long at Steve Harrington. He had sweat down the front and back of his gray Phys. Ed. Shirt and his hair looked somewhat slick, but _boy_ was he handsome.

Caroline mindlessly tapped the eraser end of her pencil against the blank notebook resting on her lap. In the last ten minutes she had made no progress whatsoever on her English assignment. At one point, Steve looked over and saw her there. He had smiled and waved, causing her to perk up and nearly split her face in two because she smiled so widely. It was no secret that Nancy had left Tina’s party with Johnathan Byers; the whole school knew about it. Caroline didn’t want to take advantage of the situation, but she felt a bit more optimistic about her chances with Steve than she had a few days ago.

Billy had not noticed that Caroline was in the gym until he saw the interaction with Steve. _What does she see in this little shit anyway? There’s no way this guy could satisfy a woman the way Billy Hargrove could. Was it the hair? Shit. Billy had long hair-- curls that girls loved to tangle their fingers in and pull on while they screamed his name in the throes of ecstasy. The physique? Billy had a far more muscular build than Steve; he could easily bench press Caroline and then some._

The gym teacher blew the whistle and their classmates scurried into place, tennis shoes scuffing against the polished court in a symphony of squeaks. Billy saw Caroline watching Steve like a star-crossed lover from afar, and it riled him to his core. He could feel a festering hatred for Harrington already, and he didn’t even know him… never really interacted with him. It was just one more reminder that he couldn’t have her; she didn’t look at him _like that._ Perhaps if he humiliated him and showed Caroline what a weakling Harrington truly was, it would make her open her Goddamned eyes.

The whistle blew again. Steve dribbled the ball with ease as he made his way towards the opposite hoop. Caroline leaned forward and watched his agility, internally cheering him on. Everything he did and every which way he moved held her attention. _Those shorts were so short._ That was, until Billy came into view. _How had she not noticed him in here?_ _The cologne should have been a tipoff._

It was almost as if there was no one on the floor besides Steve and Billy. _Shirt vs. Skin. Of course Billy was Skin._ Billy was right up on him, his hand balled into a fist as he pushed and bumped against Steve with his tanned, toned chest and forearm, blocking him from making his way across the court. Caroline noticed that this scrimmage seemed to be rougher than what she had seen previously between the other boys in the game. Billy pushed him a little too hard, made faces a little too harsh. Then again, Billy always did things a little more extreme than others.

“Harrington, right?” Billy asked Steve, already knowing the answer. “I heard you used to run this school, is that true? _King Steve_ they used to call you, huh?” Billy smiled at the thought of dethroning him in the short amount of time he had been in Hawkins, already beating his keg stand record. _It was hardly a competition._ “Then you turned bitch,” he jeered with an arrogant grin.

Not one for drama and mind games, Steve firmly proposed, “Hey, maybe you should just shut up and play the game.”

Caroline wished she could hear what was being said but knew by the intense look on Billy’s face that it was more than just typical rival banter. In a swift motion, Billy tripped Steve and ran to the other end of the court, completing a fancy trick with the ball swooping under his leg before he jumped and threw it into the net. She sat up straight, worried that Steve might possibly be hurt after falling backward with such force. Like a flash, he was up again, and Caroline sighed with relief.

“Woo!” Tommy cheered and slapped Billy’s hand with a high five. “That’s what I’m _talkin’_ about! _Woo_!”

She could see the disappointment in Steve’s face. For as sore of a loser as Billy could be when he lost, he was an even more abysmal winner. He would strut like a peacock and gloat until the cows came home. He knew how to get under people’s skin. And there he stood in victory, with that cocksure smile, puffed out chest, and inflated ego.

“ _Steve_!” called a female voice from the exit doors.

They all looked over in that direction and saw Nancy standing there with an expression of irritated urgency. Steve followed her outside. There was that familiar feeling again… heart sinking into her stomach as if tethered to cinder blocks and thrown into a lake. _She’s probably trying to make up with him because of what happened at the party._ Just as Caroline’s enthusiasm about the whole Steve situation had heightened, her hopes were excruciatingly shattered yet again.

She felt Billy’s eyes on her and looked over at where he stood last. He was proudly walking towards her, tongue out in a gross display of triumph. Whether it was in response to his score or Caroline’s misfortune with the continuation of the Steve-and-Nancy-saga, she was not sure. She slumped back down where she sat, disheartened by both Steve’s absence and Billy’s presence. She had done a great job at avoiding him all day yesterday, but now she felt like she was in the lion’s den. He flexed his perspiring pectoral muscles back and forth. _That stupid grin._ Caroline shook her head and looked down at her blank paper unamused, unable to think.

“What are you doing here, shitbird?” Billy asked in a nonchalant tone, placing one foot on the first-row bench and leaning his forearm against his bare knee.

_Those shorts weren’t just short on Steve._

“Study hall,” she pretended to write but achieved nothing but random scribbles of illegible characters.

Billy nodded his head and stared at her. “Then shouldn’t you be studying something?” _He knew why she was here. Harrington, that little fucker._

“I needed a change of scenery,” Caroline dully replied.

Billy smiled and flexed his muscles again. “Change of scenery, huh?” He looked back at the doors where Steve had exited and then back at Caroline. She was doing her best to ignore him, but he couldn’t help but smirk when he caught her eyes flit up to him once and then dart back down to her paper. “Well your scenery just walked out the door with his girlfriend.”

 _“Hargrove!”_ boomed a deep voice from across the room. Billy ignored it.

“I didn’t come for Steve,” Caroline retorted immediately without looking at him, taking after Max’s tendency to give herself away by answering too quickly with a lie.

“Something tells me that _King Steve_ has that problem with a lot of girls,” the name spewed out of his mouth like venom. Caroline continued writing, wishing that he would go away. He leaned forward and spoke lowly just so he and Caroline were the only ones who would hear. “But the girls _always_ cum for Billy.”

Caroline’s hand stopped scrawling and she glanced at him with a curled lip and furrowed brow, an obvious show of her disgust. He raised his eyebrows and flicked his tongue against his upper teeth, staring at her primitively for a few seconds before expanding his grin into one of pride. He had always been crude for as long as she had known him, but he had never been so sexually charged in his responses to her as what he has been these last few weeks. _He must really need to get laid._

The whistle blew again. “Hargrove!” the teacher’s deep voice hollered impatiently.

Billy beamed and slapped his chiseled thigh before he slammed his foot back down to the floor and walked away without another word. The boys played a few more rounds. Each time Billy snatched the ball from the offense and made a mockery of them with his ability to run and jump and shoot, time and time again. He stole glances at her after each shot to see if she was watching, and _damn it, she wasn’t._ Her nose was back in her books. Every once in a while, she eagerly looked up at the door anticipating Steve’s return.

Billy Hargrove was not used to being ignored.

* * * * *

The final bell rang, signaling the end of yet another day at Hawkins High School. Caroline closed her science book and began to stack her belongings from biggest to smallest. She slid her pencil into the spiral coil of her notebook and placed the strap of her purse on her shoulder. As she stood from her desk, she noticed Steve had not budged from his desk two seats down and one row over from her. He sat still staring down at his book, rubbing his forehead in what Caroline only assumed was confusion.

“See ya tomorrow,” a girl from class said to Caroline.

Caroline smiled in return, “Yeah, see ya,” but then returned her solemn look to Steve.

The room had emptied rapidly. Everyone was in a hurry to get home, no one wanting to spend any more time confined to the walls of the school than they had to. Caroline picked up her books and slowly made her way two seats up, placing her books back down and sitting at the desk beside Steve. He didn’t even seem to notice. His eyes were fixated in front of him, staring off into nothingness, past the words on the pages of his book. A chunk of hair dangled in front of his unblinking eyes.

After a few silent and static seconds, Caroline softly murmured, “Are you okay?”

He didn’t move. Caroline could see that he was deep in thought. This was pensiveness, not disregard. A corner of a page was grasped between his thumb and finger; his forearm rested on the smooth wooden desktop. His other hand was balled into a fist under his chin.

Caroline reached her hand out delicately and nudged his forearm. “Hey.”

Steve promptly turned to look at her, not with alarm, but with recognition that he had been lost in thought. “Hm?”

His face was so boyish, and so sad. _Nancy must have really done a number on him._ Although Caroline had not known him for long, she was used to only ever seeing him smile. With her days beginning with Steve Harrington in first period social studies, and ending with Steve Harrington in eighth period science, his smile is what helped her get through the days and hold her over until tomorrow.

She half-heartedly smiled, doing her best to not look too pitying. “I said are you okay?”

Steve furrowed his brow and then realized that he must have been wearing his heart on his sleeve. “Oh,” he did his best to straighten his face as he closed his text and gathered his books into a pile similar to hers. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” he brushed his hair back with his fingers and stood.

Caroline stood, too. “I don’t know,” she started. “You just don’t seem like the Steve Harrington I’m used to seeing, that’s all.”

He looked at her and then looked away and chuckled, placing his hands on his hips. He returned his look to her, this time with a small smile at the corners of his mouth. “Is it that obvious?”

Caroline nodded her head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

* * * * *

Billy leaned against his driver side door, impatiently smoking his cigarette and flipping the top of his gold Zippo lighter open and shut. _Open... Shut… Open… Shut... Open... Shut..._ His eyes were fixed on the main entrance of the school as the last few stragglers made their way out the door. Even a few teachers had already made their exit. Caroline was nowhere to be seen.

For once, Max had arrived first at the car, and on time. She was in a piss-poor mood, looked to have been arguing with some black kid when she made her way down to the car. She didn’t want to talk about it and pretended not to care. Billy didn’t even give a shit about that right now.

 _Where the fuck is Caroline?_ He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the sweet smoke of his Marlboro, and then exhaled with a groan. _Open… Shut... Open... Shut..._

 _No respect for my Goddamn time._ He pursed his lips around the cigarette and checked his watch. Fifteen minutes. It had been nearly fifteen minutes he had been waiting for her. He removed the cigarette and held it between his thumb and index finger. He licked his lips as he kept his eyes on the doors.

Billy replayed the events from earlier that day in his mind as he continued to flip the lighter in his hand. _Open… Shut… Open… Shut…_ The way Caroline had been staring at Harrington like she would do anything for him made his stomach churn. There had been other crushes in California, but none that she ever looked at the way she looked at Harrington. She had been keeping her distance from Billy over the weekend following the argument in which he had dragged her out of the car. _Maybe he had been too rough, but damn it that fucking mouth on her._ Every now and then she was ballsy enough to give him a run for his money. If he was being completely honest with himself, he loved when she did because it gave him a reason to put his hands on her. If he couldn’t pull her hair and fuck her at the same time, he would just have to settle for pulling her hair. He had to be intimidating enough, though, so that she wouldn’t go running to Neil or Susan.

Neil had made it crystal clear three years ago when he met Susan that Caroline and Max were off limits to his womanizing, walking hard-on of a son. Billy never saw Max in that way. For one, she was way too young. Secondly, just not his type. Her boyish build, her coarse hair, her plain face, her personality. _Nope, never._ Neil was no dummy when it came to Caroline, though; that was one thing Billy could give him credit for. He saw how Billy looked at her, knew the kinds of raunchy thoughts he had about her. Even when she was all knees and elbows, she had a pretty face and a nice rack (which was eventually confirmed when he walked in on her getting dressed a few weeks ago—although it was _just_ a peek). Shortly after their two families had moved in together, Neil caught him rubbing one out in her room when she wasn’t home. _That had been embarrassing._ He had received a few punches to the gut for that one, but that was one of the only times Billy was thankful no one else knew what had happened.

It was getting more and more difficult to control himself around Caroline. All those womanly parts that make sex feel so good have filled out perfectly. Widened hips; shapely thighs; rounded, perky breasts; pouty lips. No one knew that when he was on top of a girl, pumping and thrusting as if his life depended on it, that it was her face he envisioned orgasming beneath him most times. When he was receiving oral sex from random girls at parties, it was often her mouth he was imagining. He hated to admit that Caroline was his type because it held so much power over him, to desire something so strongly that he knew he could not have.

She never expressed the same interest in him that he had in her. The looks of disgust she provided in response to things he said and did confirmed that much. _It wasn’t like he loved her_. He didn’t think of them growing old together. Hell, he didn’t even worry about her wellbeing. He just wanted to fuck her. He wanted to have complete control over her; to feel her body writhing and quaking beneath him and know that it was him that caused her to completely fall apart. He wanted her to want him, to beg for it. _Lord knows that mouth of hers knows how to run, but does it know how to suck?_ Maybe now it was just more difficult for him because finding girls of her type was easier said than done in Hawkins. Maybe he longed for a piece of home. Maybe he wanted a personal challenge to turn Mommy’s little princess into his own personal whore. Maybe it was just the concept of forbidden fruit. _Open. Shut. Open. Shut._

He wondered if _King Steve_ would talk about making her cum, if he had been the one to grab her hand and put it on his dick, if she would have tried to pull away like she did with him. He wondered if she was in there right now with _King Steve._ His mouth twitched as he took another puff to settle his nerves, the image of Caroline and Harrington together lighting a seething inferno beneath his skin.

“Is Caroline coming?” Max called out from the passenger seat. Even Max sounded irritated by Caroline’s lateness, but she was already in a foul mood when she had slumped herself down onto the seat.

 _Is Caroline coming,_ those words played over again in Billy’s mind, and he internally shuddered at the thought, especially since he had just been thinking about her and Harrington. _I fucking hope not._ He ignored Max’s question and remained in stilled silence, watching the door for any sign of Caroline’s presence. _Maybe she_ was _in there with Harrington._ The way she was watching him in the gym, and the rumors that he and Nancy were done for good, Caroline probably jumped at the opportunity to suck his dick. Billy’s bitterness was seeping through to his own thoughts, even though he knew better.

When she didn’t emerge from the doors within the next thirty seconds, Billy dropped his lighter back in his jacket pocket and took one final long drag of his cigarette. “Fuck it,” he flicked his cigarette to the ground and harshly blew the smoke out of his mouth. “Little bitch can walk home,” he said out loud to no one in particular.

Max heard him as he opened his door and collapsed into the driver’s seat. Everything about his movements was angry. How he sat in the seat, the way he closed his door, the sudden force at which he turned his keys and pulled the gearshift into reverse.

“Billy,” Max protested when she realized that he was seriously about to drive away without Caroline. “We can’t leave without…”

“You can walk home, too,” Billy hit the brakes and watched her intently, fire in his eyes.

Max swallowed and quickly turned to face forward. She didn’t budge from her seat and didn’t utter another word. Home was several miles away. Knowing how Billy had nearly run the boys off the road that one day, she didn’t want to take her chances.

“That’s what I fucking thought,” Billy clenched his teeth as he let off the brake and resumed his drive, throwing stones and dust behind the tires as he kicked the gas pedal.

* * * * *

Steve leaned against the lockers as Caroline retrieved the books that she would need for that evening’s homework. He continued to thank her for listening and apologized for ditching her at the party when Nancy stalked off.

“Steve, there’s no need to be sorry,” Caroline sweetly and genuinely assured him. “You did what you felt you needed to do at the time. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Yeah,” he didn’t sound so sure. “Hindsight is twenty/twenty, I guess.”

Caroline gave him a sympathetic smile. Just then, she heard the familiar thunderous rumble of Billy’s Camaro coming to life. Her eyes widened as she looked at Steve. She looked down at the watch he was wearing on his wrist and grabbed his hand, jerking it toward her to view the time. _2:48pm_. She had not realized how long she and Steve had spent talking with each other. Momentary panic set in. She dropped his hand and pushed her locker door closed more forcefully than intended.

“Oh my God,” Caroline rushed, “I gotta go. I’m sorry. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!”

She jogged towards the main entrance, which was only about 100 feet from her locker, leaving Steve behind to go at his own pace. The strap of her purse fell from her shoulder to the crook of her arm as it swung randomly against her side. She already knew by the weakening sound of the engine in the distance that it was too late; Billy had driven off, unwilling to wait any longer for her. In a way, she couldn’t blame him. She had spent nearly 20 minutes inside after school without any type of warning that she would be late.

Caroline pushed through the glass double doors and stopped after she had taken several hasty strides outside. She saw the Camaro turn the corner and disappear from her sight. _Shit._ Her heart raced as she wondered how bad it would be once she got home. Billy had a tendency to break things when he was angry. She also knew that he drove way too fast, especially when he was pissed off. Part of her had hoped that Max was also running late so she wouldn’t have to deal with Billy alone for the next fifteen minutes. She raised the palm of her hand to her forehead and brushed a few hairs out of her face.

She heard the door click behind her and steady footsteps approach. Steve stopped beside her, looking at the nearly empty lot that she seemed to be looking at. He turned and studied her face. There was a level of apprehension present.

“You okay?” Steve asked her this time.

Caroline realized her mouth was slightly agape. She brought her lips together and lowered her hand from her face, slapping her outer thigh with distress.

She motioned to the student parking lot and informed Steve, “I missed my ride.”

Steve chuckled lightly, not understanding the significance of the situation, completely oblivious of Billy’s wrath. “I’ll give you a ride a home.” Caroline smiled in response. Steve playfully tapped his elbow against hers and nodded for her to follow along. “Come on.”


	9. Chapter 9

Billy’s heart skipped a beat and he felt the color drain from his face when he followed Max inside the house and saw Neil was home. _He’s never home this early._ _The old man’s truck must be out back._ He seemed to be preoccupied with something. Max scurried to her room and closed the door, like she usually did when they got home from school. Luggage was propped against the wall by the fireplace. Billy hoped that if he kept his head down and hurried to his room that he could avoid the inevitable confrontation that he knew would occur.

“Where’s Caroline?” Susan asked as Billy opened his bedroom door.

 _Fucking hell, Susan, you Goddamned stupid bitch._ Billy ignored her, hoping that he could think of an excuse and just play off his lack of response as not hearing her. He pushed his door closed behind him and turned on his boombox. Loud rock music filled the air and drowned out the protests of Susan trying to talk to him through the door. He expected the powerful knocks that vibrated his door ten seconds later.

“Yeah, I’m a little bit busy in here, Susan,” he sighed, knowing that it wasn’t Susan at the door.

“Open the door,” Neil commanded from the other side. “Right now.”

Billy licked his lips and backtracked to the door, opening it with a look of annoyance on his face. Neil and Susan both stood at his doorway, staring at him quietly, waiting for him to be the first to talk.

“What’s wrong?” Billy sighed.

“Why don’t you tell us,” Neil crossed his arms, expecting Billy to answer Susan’s question.

“Because I don’t know,” Billy curtly responded with a slightly raised voice. His eyes shifted back and forth between Neil and Susan, hoping to buy more time as he struggled to think of a good lie.

Susan’s docile voice announced the obvious. “Caroline didn’t come home with you.”

Billy sighed and averted his gaze, looking towards his closet. His mind was blank.

“Well,” Neil peevishly shrugged his broad shoulders at Billy’s lack of reply. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Billy blurted before he could stop himself. _Any lie would have been better than that._

“You don’t _know?_ ” Neil’s tone was patronizing, but he still waited to give Billy another chance to tell the truth. He narrowed his eyes.

 _I’ve told Max and Caroline before that if they’re late they can walk home._ _I left her there. She’s probably walking on the highway by now._

“Look, I’m sure she just… I don’t know… met up with a friend after school or something,” Billy walked away from the door before his father would be able to see the lie visible on his face. He slipped off his jacket and opened his closet door, retrieving a hanger.

Neil smoothed his mustache as he rubbed the corners of his mouth with his hand. He stepped inside Billy’s room, not willing to accept Billy’s answer. He turned off the boombox. An uncomfortable silence permeated the room as Neil stared at the back of Billy’s head while he hung the jacket back up in his closet.

“You’re supposed to drive her and Max to and from school,” Neil reminded him in a calmer tone.

Billy knew better than to make the mistake that his father was calm. This was more like the calm before the storm. Still, he had trouble minding his attitude with his father and often could not stop himself until it was too late.

* * * * *

“It’s this one here, with the Camaro,” Caroline pointed at the white house with a glass sunroom at the front.

Her step-brother’s car had likely already been home for five minutes. That was more than enough time to leave a path of destruction. She wondered what mess she would need to clean when she walked in. Part of her just wanted to stay in the car, but she knew she would have to face the music.

Steve pulled his BMW along the curb behind Billy’s car and put it in park but left it running. Caroline turned to face him and smiled a closed-mouth, shy smile.

“Thanks for the ride, Steve. I really appreciate it.” She brushed her wavy hair behind her ear.

Steve smiled and nodded. “Of course, it was no problem. You’re only, like, a five-minute drive from my house.”

“Oh,” Caroline let out an excited gasp. The thought of Steve living so close to her made her feel giddy.

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, tracing the shape of his steering wheel with his fingertips while avoiding eye contact. “So, maybe, you know, if… if you ever need a ride again…” He sounded slightly nervous.

Caroline smiled happily, interpreting his statement and nervousness as flirtation. She wanted to lean over and give him a kiss but decided against it. She remembered that she had misread signals before, and he and Nancy were just newly broken up. She didn’t want to appear too desperate or insensitive.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’d be great,” Caroline beamed.

Steve looked up at her and returned the smile, seeming much more confident than what he sounded seconds ago. “How about tomorrow morning? I could pick you up at ten after seven?”

“Um,” she looked away and brought her books up to her chest, hoping that it would muffle the thrilled throbs of her heart, “okay.” Placing her other hand on the door handle, she announced, “I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Steve bit his bottom lip and nodded his head. “See you tomorrow,” he agreed, a toothy grin giving away his enthusiasm over her acceptance of his offer.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Neither of them was aware that the other wanted to lean in for a kiss but refrained from doing so because they each thought it was too soon.

“Bye,” Caroline quickly expressed her gratitude again and opened the door. She could feel her cheeks becoming flushed as she was in a closed space with her crush, and she needed to leave before he noticed. Unlike in California, she could not exactly blame it on the heat here. The smile could not be erased from her face as she made her way up the sidewalk to her front door.

Steve leaned forward to watch her make her way to her house. _“Turn around,”_ Steve whispered to himself. _“Come on, turn around, turn around.”_

As if Caroline had heard his plea, she turned before she reached the front door and smiled at him, offering a small wave before stepping onto the sunporch and entering her house.

 _“Yes,”_ Steve softly celebrated the sign that she was into him. He returned her wave and then sat back in his seat again once she was out of sight. “She likes you,” he proclaimed to himself. He shifted the car into drive and gently pulled away from the curb, grinning from ear to ear as he drove away. He was thankful that her step-brother had driven off without her today.

* * * * *

Caroline closed the door and walked through the living room as she clutched her books tightly to her chest, matching Steve’s ear-to-ear grin without realizing it. She noticed the black luggage set sitting against the wall and her smile faded.

“What did we talk about,” she heard Neil say from Billy’s room. His voice was stern and low.

Her walk slowed when she heard the recognizable sound of Neil’s hand potently coming in contact with Billy’s face. Susan stood in the doorway to Billy’s room, looking in. The instant flinch that Susan’s body produced confirmed to Caroline that that’s what had happened. _Neil is never home this early. What is going on?_

“Respect. And responsibility,” she heard Billy calmly state, his voice devoid of the common attitude she typically heard in their exchanges.

“That is right,” Neil agreed. “Now. Apologize to Susan.”

Caroline considered if she should say something or just go to her room. No one ever came in between Billy and Neil when they had their arguments. Everyone in the house, whether they admitted it or not, was fearful of Neil. His quick temper and strong hand were deterrent enough, at least for the girls, to try and remain on their best behavior. Billy was not Caroline’s favorite person in the world, but she often believed that Neil went overboard on his punishments and reactions.

“I’m home,” Caroline weakly announced as she approached Billy’s door, hoping that her disruption would end whatever was happening in his room.

Susan turned to look at her and eagerly called out for Neil that Caroline was home. Caroline stopped and waited as she heard Neil’s heavy footsteps retreating from the far corner of Billy’s room toward her. Neil had never hit her; but, seeing how he treated Billy caused her to tense with trepidation on the rare occasions that she did something wrong.

Neil stepped outside of Billy’s room and stood several paces in front of Caroline. The look on his face was a mix of confusion and irritation. His square jaw was tense and the vein in his neck was pulsating; he and Billy had that same look in common when they were incensed about something. He seemed to be trying to convince himself to change his demeanor now that he was interacting with Caroline.

When she didn’t say anything, he held his arms out questioningly and snapped, “What happened? Where were you?”

Caroline grimaced at the volume and tone of his voice, mentally preparing herself for the same _smack_ that he had just given Billy. This did not go unnoticed by Neil. He did his best to soften his expression and placed his hands on his hips, hoping that this would place Caroline’s fear a little more at ease.

“I,” Caroline stuttered, “I had to stay after class for something.”

Neil blinked at her, waiting for more details to this story. Billy emerged at his doorway, left cheek reddened with the shape of Neil’s right hand. His face was void of any expression, although Caroline could tell from the puffiness and redness lining his lower lids that he had been holding back tears.

Caroline rarely lied to her mother or Neil, but sometimes she viewed it as necessary to save her own self. On rare occasion, she did it to save Billy. It wasn’t because she cared about him though; it was almost a survival instinct. She knew that when things got rough for Billy, they tended to get rough for her and Max. If she could deescalate a situation by telling a white lie that could potentially prevent her and Max from being on the receiving end of Billy’s wrath, then that was what she did.

“I feel like I’m struggling with science class. They’re a little further ahead here than what classes were back home,” she told a rather believable fib. When Neil did not offer any type of retort or change in expression, she took that as her cue to continue. “I didn’t think it would take as long as it did. And, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the time. I didn’t think to say anything to Billy about needing to stay after because I didn’t think it would take that long. Billy probably thought that I got a ride home with someone else…”

Caroline glanced at Billy. He had a hint of amusement on his face. The corners of his mouth were pulled ever so slightly into a smirk that to the naked, untrained eye would not be perceptible. Caroline knew better, though. She knew the miniscule differences in his expressions. She had learned to decipher them in situations which he wanted their parents to remain unsuspecting.

As much as she hated to say it and knew that he would revel in it, she apologized, “I’m sorry, Billy. I should’ve told you.”

He nodded his head, understanding what she was doing. Billy knew it was just for show. The harm had already been done. He had already received his corporal punishment for the act.

Neil nodded his head as well, accepting the story as likely and within the range of her character. “Alright,” he breathed, “but in the future, please make arrangements so this doesn’t happen again.”

Caroline shifted her eyes upward to look at Neil’s softened face. “Yes, sir.”

Neil walked away and Susan followed him like an obedient servant.

“Mom,” Caroline turned to face Susan. She looked like she had been crying recently. Her pale skin was blotchy and the same puffiness that she saw under Billy’s eyes were present under Susan’s, though more pronounced. “Are you okay?”

Susan gave a sympathetic smile and looked as if she were about to start crying again.

“Great Aunt Jeanie died,” Max said from behind Caroline as she made her way to the living room now that the blowup that had started when she first came home was over.

Aunt Jeanie was Susan’s aunt. The woman had practically raised Susan. Caroline and Max often spent weeks during the summer with Aunt Jeanie, swimming in her pool, taking her dogs for walks, and picking grapes in her vineyard. There were few qualms on Susan’s part regarding their move to Indiana but leaving Aunt Jeanie had been one of them. She had been in poor health for the last year or so. Susan had feared that Aunt Jeanie would die from a broken heart if they left. Neil had reminded her that they needed to live their own lives and make decisions that would be best for their own family. _Their own family_ … as if Aunt Jeanie wasn’t part of the family.

“Oh, Mom,” Caroline cooed, pulling her thin body in for a comforting hug with her free arm. “I’m so sorry.”

Susan returned the hug, latching tightly onto Caroline’s waist. She had needed that support. When she pulled away, she wiped a few tears from her eyes. Caroline just stared, not sure how else to help her mother.

Susan thanked her and turned her attention back to the luggage and household needs. She had mentioned the need to get ready to leave for their 7:05pm flight back to California to make arrangements and settle Aunt Jeanie’s affairs. Susan had been named executor of the will since Aunt Jeanie had no children of her own.

“Are we all going?” Caroline asked, feeling guilty for the excitement in her voice at the thought of returning to California under such circumstances.

“No, honey,” Susan’s tone was apologetic. “Not this time. You kids are so new to this school, I don’t want you falling behind,” Susan walked away to her bedroom, leaving Caroline alone where she stood. Max had already settled onto the couch and turned on the TV, seemingly unaffected by the news of Aunt Jeanie. Susan continued to speak, with a bit more volume, “Especially if you feel like you’re struggling right now, I just think it would be better if you three stay here and focus on school. Neil and I will handle everything that needs to be done for Aunt Jeanie.”

“For how long?” Caroline called out.

“A week, maybe a little longer,” Susan answered as she continued to shuffle around the room.

The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention when Billy noiselessly approached her from behind and hoarsely whispered in her ear, “You would’ve known that had you been home on time.”

His lips had brushed her ear as he spoke, eliciting a shiver from Caroline. She jerked her shoulder up to protect herself out of habit. He then brushed past her, his shoulder brusquely pushing against hers as he went to the kitchen.

Neil had explained the situation to Billy during their argument. He had reprimanded him about the importance of family and looking after each other. He had informed Billy of the need for him to be a responsible brother and look after his sisters, which Billy firmly responded by reminding him that Max and Caroline aren’t his sisters. It was at that point that Neil had shoved him back and pinned him hard against the wooden shelves. He would definitely have bruises on his back from that one, and Caroline would have to pay for it.

* * * * *

The three teenagers stood in the darkening driveway as Neil loaded the last of the luggage set into the bed of the pickup truck. Susan made her way down the line to each of them saying her _goodbyes_ and _be-goods._ She kissed each of the girls on their cheeks.

“We’re going to be staying at Aunt Jeanie’s house. I left the number on the fridge in case of emergencies,” Susan said in between kissing the girls. “There’s some money in the bureau if you need milk or want to get pizza one night.”

When she got to Billy, she went to lean in to give him a kiss as well, but he promptly held up his hands between them in objection and leaned back. Susan read the signal loud and clear. She flashed a tight-lipped smile at him in response to the awkward exchange and refrained from the action.

“Love you all.” Susan then turned to make her way toward the truck.

Now, it was Neil’s turn to say his goodbyes. It was quite apparent that Neil didn’t know how to be a father to girls _(or boys, for that matter)._ His embraces were rigid and felt forced, like when siblings are told to hug and make up when they really don’t want to. His words were often so different from Susan’s. While Susan’s were those of concern and love, Neil’s were more rule-bound.

“Alright,” he announced, as if preparing everyone for the following interactions.

Max was first. He went in for a one-armed side hug. “Don’t spend all your time at the arcade.” Max rolled her eyes when he was out of view but nodded her head to appease him. _Fat chance._

Next was Caroline. “Get caught up with your schoolwork,” he gave her the same robotic hug he had just given Max.

When he stood in front of Billy, the two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. It was about as tense as a stare-down could get without fists being thrown. They looked so similar. Each man stood tall, shoulders back, neck stretched to make himself taller, chin slightly jutted out and nose somewhat in the air. They both were sending the message that they looked down on the other.

Instead of the same hug he gave the girls, Neil extended his hand out to Billy for a handshake. Billy broke their eye contact first, looking down at his father’s hand and huffing beneath his breath. He took the hand, though, knowing that if he didn’t he would likely feel it on his face.

“Don’t make me regret this,” Neil seemingly spoke through clenched teeth, his jaw just as tense as it had been earlier that afternoon. “You take care of your sisters while I’m gone.”

“Yes, sir,” Billy quietly acknowledged his father’s statement.

Neil paused the handshake and sighed. He took a step closer and turned his head so his ear was closer to Billy. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that.”

Caroline nearly didn’t notice that her lip started to curl involuntarily at the thought of what an asshole Neil Hargrove could be. She quickly smoothed her face again. Not that it mattered; his focus right now was on Billy.

Billy took in a breath and more loudly, but submissively, agreed, “Yes. Sir,” he enunciated each word with a slight pause in between.

Neil nodded his head, satisfied with his son’s agreeableness. “Good.” Turning to Caroline and Max, he added, “You let me know if he doesn’t.”

Caroline and Max nodded and replied, “Yes, sir,” in unison.

“No skipping school,” Neil firmly warned as he walked to the driver side door.

They watched as their parents backed out of the driveway. Susan waved and called out her _I-love-you’s_ one more time. Once they were on the road, Max, Caroline, and Billy went back up the stairs to the backdoor.

Max quickly retreated to her bedroom and shut the door. A week with Billy would be difficult, but she was thankful that she at least had her sister with her. Max sometimes stood up to Billy, but Caroline was the more likely of the two to do that.

Caroline walked to her own room, as well, having similar thoughts as Max about their week with Billy. She would just try to make sure that they stayed out of his way. _Spending a week in our rooms won’t be too bad,_ she thought. At the very least, Max and Caroline could spend time with each other playing games if Billy would be unwilling to take her to the arcade. The weather was still decent enough that they could ride their bikes around town, too, if they needed to get out of the house and away from him for a while.

Caroline hadn’t expected Billy to follow her into her bedroom. When she pushed the door to close it behind her, she heard the thud of his arm pushing it back against the wall. She turned quickly. His face was serious— not angry, but stern. He stood with a dominant stance, feet apart. His white button-down shirt was tucked into his tight jeans, and the first few buttons at the top were undone.

Sensing that this was about him getting in trouble for her not coming home with him, she started to apologize. “Billy, I’m sorry about earlier, okay?” she sounded more defensive than apologetic.

He stepped further into her room and closed the door behind him, never breaking eye contact from her.

“Who brought you home?” he questioned with his raspy voice, taking slow, short steps toward her.

She backed away towards her closet with the same slow, short pace, maintaining a distance from him. “What does it matter? I came home as soon as I could.”

Billy dragged his finger along the front edge of her long dresser as he walked beside it. Varieties of lotions and perfumes were gathered in a group at one corner. Makeup and brushes were beside it. A makeshift vanity mirror sat behind the makeup. Her record player sat at the far end. Caroline’s back touched the closet door at the far end of her room. Billy continued walking towards her slowly, closing the space between them.

“Was it that _faggot, Hair_ ington?” he exaggerated the name as a play on Steve’s luscious head of hair.

Her silence and aversion of her eyes as he stopped in front of her was the only answer he needed. “It was, wasn’t it?” Billy stretched his arm and placed his hand against the wall beside her head. “What were you doing with _Stevie-boy_ after school, huh?” he dropped his face closer to hers. When she tried to turn to look away to avoid his predatory stare, he used his free hand to roughly capture her lower jaw and force her to look at him.

“Nothing,” Caroline whined, “we were just talking.” _It was the truth_.

“ _Just talking_ ,” Billy chuckled, not because it was funny, but because he couldn’t believe that he took a beating from his old man because she was _just talking_ to some little prick.

“That’s all, I swear,” Caroline said, then realizing that it was different from what she had told Neil in front of Billy. She decided to work it into the lie. “He’s in the same class as me, and I was asking him some questions to help me get caught up and—”

Billy removed his hand from her jaw and slammed it flat against the wall behind her, effectively encasing her between his arms and the wall. She jumped at the sudden, loud movement.

“Spare me your bullshit,” Billy firmly stated. “I saw how you were drooling over him in the gym. You’ve wanted to wrap those little legs around him since you first saw him,” he quickly placed one of his hands on her upper thigh as if she needed visual aids to go along with what he was saying. “Were you helping him get over his little girlfriend? Huh?” He slowly slid his hand across her denim jeans and up her thigh until he reached her crotch.

Caroline’s eyes widened at the feeling of him moving his hand there. She pushed his hand away from her and hastily ducked under his other arm, escaping the makeshift jail in which he had her imprisoned.

“God, what is _wrong_ with you?” Caroline spat. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and stood with her legs snugly together.

Billy turned to face her and smirked. _I’m not gonna wash this hand tonight._

She walked over to her door and opened it. Nodding her head toward the outside hallway, she looked at him and said, “I want you to leave.”

Billy chuckled and started walking toward the open door. Caroline was foolish to think that he was going to comply with her demand. _No one told him what to do._

Billy jerked the door from her hand and slammed it shut. “I don’t want you hanging around him,” Billy flatly stated, leaning his hand against the door.

“Why do you care?” she shrugged, her tone irritable.

“Because, Caroline,” Billy sighed and rolled his head, “you may be a piece of shit, but we’re _family_ now whether we like it or not, meaning I’m stuck looking out for you.”

Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes at this statement. _The only thing Billy Hargrove ever cared about was Billy Hargrove._

“I wasn’t aware you were the poster boy for wholesome family values,” she chided, pushing herself away from the wall, ready to walk away from him.

“Hey!” he yelled at her, grabbing two fistfuls of the front of her sweater and slamming her against the wall behind her door. She gasped and her eyes widened. Caroline’s hands instinctively went up to his wrists to try and remove them from her. “This is serious shit,” Billy snarled, his hot breath hitting against her mouth as he spoke. His icy eyes bore directly into hers. “I’m older than you, and one thing you learn is there’s certain type of people in this world that you stay away from.”

 _“Caroline, are you okay in there?”_ Max’s voice timidly asked from the other side of the door.

“And that guy, Caroline,” Billy inched closer to her face. She moved her hands to his shoulders in an attempt to push him away. He simply pushed his fists harder into her chest. She winced at the pressure, tears forming along her lower eyelids. “That guy is one of them. You stay away from him, do you hear me?” He pulled her forward toward him and said directly in her ear, “Stay. Away.”

Once his speech was finished, he released her sweater with a strong push, knocking her back against the wall. He watched her for a second as he opened her door and stepped out of her room. Max instantly sidestepped out of his way, backing away from the door where she had been eavesdropping the interaction since she first heard Caroline’s body slam against the wall they shared.

“The hell are you looking at, shitbird?” Billy snapped, stomping his booted foot and pretending to lunge in her direction to scare her into thinking that he would come after her next. He laughed when Max flinched and took another fast step away from him before he disappeared behind his own bedroom door with a slam.

Max walked into Caroline’s room, careful of pushing the door because she knew Caroline was behind it. She saw Caroline leaning against the wall, her shaky hands rubbing at her chest as a few teardrops glided down her cheeks. The sound of loud rock music could be heard coming from Billy’s room down the hall.

“Are you okay,” Max asked, closing the door behind her.

Caroline simply just nodded her head. “At least he didn’t break anything this time,” she said as she pushed herself away from the wall and walked over to her bed.

Max brushed her long red hair behind her ears and joined Caroline on the bed. “What was that even about?”

Caroline shook her head. _What did he mean about Steve being a certain type of people to stay away from? Was it his looks? Was it because he’s a jock? Because he’s a rich boy?_ Caroline was so confused as to why Billy was so dead set on ensuring that she has no more interactions with Steve.

“I have no idea,” she answered honestly, wondering how she would avoid Billy in the morning long enough to meet Steve out front.


	10. Chapter 10

Caroline smiled as she opened the front door and held her finger up, signaling to Steve that she needed just one more minute before she would be ready. Steve smiled and waved in acknowledgement from the driver seat of his maroon BMW. Caroline closed the door and retrieved her white Converse shoes, slipping them on and tying the laces quickly yet perfectly. Her heart thudded against her chest at the excitement of Steve Harrington picking her up from her house.

“What am I supposed to tell Billy?” Max approached quietly, looking back at his closed bedroom door to make sure he was out of sight.

“You don’t have to tell him anything,” Caroline said calmly, standing up and retrieving her books from the coffee table.

Max followed her to the door, a hint of protest evident in her voice. “He’s going to be pissed if you leave with Steve.”

Caroline scoffed. _What else is new._

“So, let him be pissed.” Caroline recalled the way he had so roughly handled her last night, cornering her like a predator traps its prey. Telling her what she can and cannot do like he owns her. “I can hang out with whoever I want. He’s not my Dad.” The more she thought about it, the angrier she became at herself for not fighting back harder last night, for not vocalizing the same sentiments that she is now to Max. She walked to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. “Fuck Billy Hargrove.”

“He’s going to take it out on _me_ ,” Max quickly reminded her from the doorway. She had heard most of the conversation last night about the need for Caroline to stay away from a guy she only assumed was Steve. With Caroline gone, there would only be one other outlet for Billy to channel his rage.

 _She’s right._ Billy would be angry. He would immediately know that Caroline had left with Steve; and, Max would still have to endure a ten-minute ride to school alone with him. Caroline would have to face Billy in second and sixth period. Steve would have to face him at least in fourth period gym. He wasn’t stupid enough to try something in school—not with her— but he would get some sort of sick pleasure over taunting her all day with how bad it would be for her when they got home. This just would not work out the way she wanted it to.

She sighed, looking at Max. Her freckled face was spattered with concern. Years of torment had taught the young girl to think through these situations and predict the outcome, assess the risk and the danger. She couldn’t do that to her sister.

“Here,” Caroline held her stack of books out, “hold these for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

Max took the books in her hands and seemed to perk up a bit, knowing that Caroline was going to turn down the ride from Steve this morning. Although it was disappointing to Caroline, it would effectively save them some grief that day—give her some time to think about how she could see Steve without Billy knowing about it. Caroline opened the door and went to take a step out when she was greeted by Steve Harrington on her front porch.

“Steve,” she gasped, quickly glancing behind herself to see if Billy was near. He was likely still busying himself with his morning routine.

“Hey,” Steve snickered, “figured I’d be a gentleman and walk you to the car. Maybe even carry your books,” he playfully brushed his hand over the front of his gray jacket. Noticing the pale look on her face, he looked back and forth between Caroline and Max. They both looked like children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. He dropped his smile. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Caroline assured him, gently placing a hand on his chest and guiding him to take a step back as she stepped out onto the sunporch, closing the door behind her.

“You look like—”

“I can’t ride with you to school today,” she interrupted him.

Steve scrunched his nose with confusion and shifted his weight between his feet. “Okay?”

Caroline glanced back at the three rectangular windows on the door to make sure that Billy was not witness to the scene. “Look, I’ll explain further when we get to school, but right now you just need to get out of here. And don’t talk to me until we’re in class, okay?” Her words were forced, as if she were running out of time.

Steve seemed taken aback by her brash dismissal. “Did I do something?”

She felt so guilty, seeing the look of rejection on his face. “No,” she glanced behind her again, “no no no, I’m sorry. No, it’s not you. I just can’t today. I’ll tell you about it _mfph—_ ”

When she turned to face him again, his lips landed on hers. They were as soft as pillows. Caroline closed her eyes and pushed into the kiss for a few seconds. Fireworks exploded in her chest and sent fizzling embers between her legs. His hand gently cupped the back of her neck, entwining his fingers in her soft, loose waves as his thumb tenderly swept over her ear. She swore for a second she could hear ocean waves crashing; it felt like home. When Steve ended the kiss and stepped back, she caught herself from nearly falling forward, chasing the moment to make it last. Her eyes fluttered open and she gawked at him through long lashes. His face looked just as surprised, mouth slightly agape, and pink pools flooding his cheeks.

He lightly cleared his throat and boyishly uttered with a smile, “I’m sorry. I wanted to do that yesterday.”

“I liked it,” she sheepishly admitted with fingers tracing her electrified lips.

His chocolate eyes landed on her plump lips that tasted ever so faintly of the cherry lip balm she was wearing, inviting himself closer for another taste. Caroline’s fingers lightly grasped the front of Steve’s jacket as she leaned forward to meet him again.

Max opened the door with ferocity. Caroline and Steve jumped apart before they had time to kiss again. They eyeballed Max. Unspoken words of panic plagued her face.

Caroline realized that Billy must be coming. She felt like the air in her lungs had been stolen from her, partly from the enchantment of Steve’s kiss and partly because she could feel a phantom hand wrapping around her throat, punishing her for her disobedience.

“You have to go. Now,” Caroline grabbed Steve’s arm and pushed him with moderate force towards the stairs. “I’m sorry,” she offered with hushed tones, “go.”

Caroline did not wait for a protest or offer further explanation before turning away from Steve and stepping back inside. She closed the door and locked it, signaling for Max to hand her back her books. She glanced up but did not see Billy in the room.

“Did he see?” Caroline whispered.

Max immediately shrugged, retrieving her skateboard from where it had been propped against the wall.

“See what?” Billy’s voice, deep and gravelly, entered the room.

Caroline looked at him lazily slipping on his brown bomber jacket. He pulled his hair from the confines of the jacket once it was on and adjusted the cuffs, tugging the sleeves of his blue button-down through the openings. His eyes switched between her and Max when neither answered his question fast enough.

Max stammered, “Uh—"

“Cat,” Caroline recovered calmly.

Billy huffed and leaned his forearm against the mantle. “A cat?” His tone suggested that he did not believe them.

“Uh huh,” Max agreed.

Billy glanced at Max before returning his skeptical stare at Caroline. “What color?”

“Black,” both girls lied together, miraculously.

He studied them for a moment. They seemed nervous. _Dishonest._

“Where?” he asked, itching for one of them to slip up.

“Porch,” the girls again lied simultaneously.

Just then they heard the sound of a car door closing out front. Billy’s ears perked up at the sound. Caroline’s eyes enlarged somewhat, worried that Steve wouldn’t leave before he was seen by Billy. She wondered what he would do.

Sensing that she was hiding something from him, Billy quickly marched forward and pushed in between Max and Caroline.

“Billy,” Caroline objected, not quite sure what she would say to follow up.

Billy rapidly turned the lock and swung the door open, taking several heavy steps onto the sunporch. The cold morning air kissed the top of his exposed chest above his white undershirt. There was his Camaro: out front, empty, and untouched. Nothing else. His eyes darted from left to right, searching for the vehicle that got away before he had to time to see it or its driver. The street was empty.

An engine growled to life across the street in the driveway that was diagonal from their property. Some middle-aged balding man in a green and brown station wagon, starting his morning travel to work. Billy then turned and looked around the sunporch. Nothing more than a few potted plants and a wicker bench with two green pillows against the far side. He stepped back inside the house and looked down at Caroline.

“I don’t see a fucking cat,” Billy declared, expecting the lack of evidence to cause Caroline to cave.

Relieved that Steve had left prior to being seen, Caroline felt more confident with continuing her harmless fabrication. She scoffed as Max stepped around Billy and made her way to the car. Her red, flowing hair made her look like a ball of fire whizzing past him.

“Well, no,” Caroline criticized, “you probably scared it away with those Frankenstein footsteps.” She held her books against her chest and stepped past him onto the porch. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

* * * * *

Billy smoked his cigarette with his window partway down and the music up. The cool November morning brought a shiver to Caroline, as she still was not used to this kind of climate. _Should have worn a coat over my sweater._ She wrapped her arms tightly around herself to keep warm. The ride to school had been peaceful, almost too quiet between the three of them. Billy usually found some snide comment to get the girls going.

Billy whipped his car into his usual parking spot, drawing gazes and titters from girls nearby as they ogled him. Caroline saw Steve’s car parked a few spaces down; he was still sitting in his seat. He looked over and they made eye contact. He flashed a brief smile before Caroline grinned and looked away bashfully. Caroline wrapped her fingers around the door handle. Billy’s hand slapped against her other wrist, his fingers gripping her like a vice. The books she was holding shifted and almost fell from her grasp. She whipped around at the sudden contact, hair flying over her shoulder, the sun catching the blonde streaks amidst a bed of light brown waves.

“Max, out,” he commanded. He turned his head to Caroline and looked at her through the shiny lenses of his aviators. “You, stay.”

He released his grip so Caroline could step out of the vehicle long enough to let Max out of the car.

Max leaned down to inform him, “I have A.V. Club after school. Will’s mom is going to drive us home.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Billy dismissed her, not even bothering to look in her direction. _The more she’s out of my hair, the better._

Max stood up straight and looked at Caroline. With a confused whisper, she asked, “Does that mean it’s okay?”

Caroline nodded her head. “Have a good day. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Quit your yappin’ and leave, shitbird,” Billy called out with annoyance, still not looking in their direction.

Max’s mouth puckered and her nose crinkled. She started walking backwards towards her building with her skateboard under her arm, middle finger raised in the air as a silent _screw you_ to her step-brother.

Caroline smiled and waved at her. She got back in the car and closed the door, unsure of what to expect. _Surely, he didn’t see Steve at the house this morning… he had been in his room when he arrived…_

She contemplated telling him what was on her mind, the way she had so bravely rehearsed it to Max this morning. But, the words didn’t come. They remained trapped, locked away in a cage deep in the pit of her stomach, rattling to be set free, causing her knees to bounce and her fingers to tap on her books as if they could be freed through Morse code. She decided that now was not the time for battle.

Caroline sat back in her seat and faced forward, watching happy-go-lucky students conversing with each other as they walked toward the main entrance of the school. Steve walked on the pathway in front of the Camaro and glanced at her through the windshield with a tiny smile. Caroline bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling and lowered her head, her chin nearly touching her chest. Steve continued walking towards the school, doing as she had asked by not speaking to her. Billy took one final puff of his cigarette before flicking it out the window and rolling the window shut to give them more privacy from prying ears.

He exhaled the smoke from his lungs as he spoke. The car filled with a pungent scent that Caroline hated and could not escape. He turned the key to kill the engine.

“What’s up with you this morning?” Billy stared straight ahead, his voice emotionless.

Caroline turned to look at him. She couldn’t read him. “What do you mean?”

He matched her movement and turned to look at her. He serenely leaned back against the headrest. She could only see her reflection in his sunglasses, not his eyes. It made her uncomfortable to not know where he was truly looking. Billy always had a fire in his eyes when he was angry. She couldn’t see it past the shield he was wearing.

“You’re awfully quiet today,” he pointed out to her. “Like you’re hiding something.”

Caroline felt the fine hairs on her neck stand at attention as fear seeped from the inside out. _Does he know?_ A tiny shiver ran down her spine, causing her to shift in her seat in order to mask the reflexive shudder.

“Well, I’m not,” Caroline’s voice was smooth and even. “It’s too early in the morning to be hiding something.”

He inhaled noisily through his nose, his chest rising roughly. Sighing, he reminded her, “You know what happens when you lie.”

She did know.

_It was the end of this past summer. The sweltering, California sun was beginning to set beyond the horizon of the tranquil ocean a few blocks away. Oranges, pinks, and purples filled the evening sky like a colorful painting. Susan and Neil were out to dinner for their anniversary. Billy was down at the beach; he had been there all day. Max was outside playing with a few friends on the street: skateboarding, basketball, rollerblading. Caroline was inside, sprawled on her bed, nose-deep in a book. So captivated with her reading that she hadn’t heard the commotion outside her open window until Max came running and burst through her bedroom door._

_Caroline looked up at her little sister. Tanned knees and forearm skinned, the beginning traces of blood oozing out from the jagged scrapes. Her windblown, fiery red hair clung to the droplets of sweat at the side of her face and neck._

_“Max,” Caroline breathed, shoving an index card into the crease of her book to mark her space. “Are you okay?”_

_Max slowly shook her head as Caroline approached to check her over. She pulled her arm back when Caroline tried to inspect it, eliciting a concerned look from her older sister. Anxiety and panic leached from her face, her emerald eyes turning to stone._

_“I did something bad,” Max murmured._

_Max had guided Caroline outside to the driveway where Billy’s Camaro was parked and her two friends stood in skates, not knowing what to do. The passenger side mirror dangled against the blue door. Max had feverishly explained the accident, how she had been skating and somehow lost her balance. How she had impulsively reached for anything around her to break her fall. The closest thing just so happened to be the mirror of the passenger side of Billy’s car. Caroline did her best to remain composed, to help Max calm down from her fit of hysteria. She knew that even though it was an honest mistake, an accident, that Billy wouldn’t see it that way. His Camaro was his baby. Max could only repeat how she didn’t mean to, she didn’t mean to…_

_“Max… Max,” Caroline interrupted her sister’s frantic retelling of events by grabbing her shoulders and bending to be at eye level with her. “It’s okay. It was accident.”_

_By this time, tears were streaming down her cheeks like a broken faucet. “He’s going to be so mad, Caroline.”_

_This much was true. Billy was a raging bull, especially when it came to his car. With their parents out for the evening, there would be no limit to his devastation._

_“Can you go to a friend’s house tonight?” Caroline rubbed her thumbs on Max’s shoulders to sooth her._

_“She can spend the night at my house,” one of the friends spoke up._

_Caroline nodded her head. “Go. I’ll handle this.”_

_Nearly a half hour had passed. Caroline was aware of Billy’s return by the sound of his deep yelling outside and the slamming of the front door when he came in._

_“Max!” his fury rattled the walls like an earthquake._

_Caroline hurried out from her room to meet him, hands up in front of her as a silent request for him to calm down. His bare chest rose and fell with quick breaths. His fingers curled into tight fists, flexing the muscles in his forearms and upper arms as he stomped past her to Max’s room._

_“Billy, it wasn’t her fault,” Caroline immediately knew the source of his anger._

_“Where is she?” he growled as he turned away from Max’s empty bedroom. The veins in his neck were prominent and pulsed with every beat of his black heart. He was determined to find her to make her pay for what she had done._

_“Billy,” Caroline again tried to reason with him. “Please, calm down. It was an accident.” She would do anything to protect her sister from Billy’s anger when he became physical._

_Billy’s steel claws wrapped around her upper arms and forcefully turned her in front of him, pushing her against the wall outside of Max’s room in the hallway. She hit so hard that a picture frame a few feet away fell from the nail which it hanged and crashed to the floor, shattering glass against the wooden planks. Caroline gasped as he raised his forearm and pushed it against her sternum. He stepped into her space and huffed hot air against her face._

_“I’ll gut that fucking little brat,” Billy threatened Max to Caroline._

_Caroline rapidly shook her head and placed her hand against Billy’s taut chest, still hot from a day in the sun. “Billy… It was my fault. I did it.”_

_Billy chortled at how Caroline jumped to defend Max._

_“I’m sorry. I lost my balance on my bike today and accidentally hit the mirror,” she quickly lied. The story was similar enough to true events, but it placed the blame and Billy’s attention on her as the culprit._

_He shook his head, still chuckling. “You’re always so quick to defend the little bitch,” he looked into her light blue eyes. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell me the truth.”_

_Caroline shook her head and quickly declared, “I am telling you the truth.”_

_He licked his lips and smirked. He shook his head and looked down at their feet, taking a step back and removing his forearm from Caroline’s body. Billy placed his hands on his hips and stared at Caroline. He nodded his head—for what, Caroline didn’t know._

_Uncomfortable with the silence, Caroline attempted to apologize to appease him. “Look, I’ll pay for it. I’m sor—”_

_Crack!_

_Without a warning, he backhanded her. She turned her body and brought her hand up to her burning cheek. He grabbed a fistful of her long hair and jerked her away from the wall, dragging her down the hall into her own bedroom. Caroline screamed for him to stop, but he was ruthless. Once in her room, he pulled her up against his chest as they stood in front of her vanity mirror. He wrapped his other arm around the front her waist to hold her in place as his lips met the back her ear. He looked at her eyes in the mirror._

_“Do you see what you make me do?” Billy spoke at a normal volume. “That lying fucking mouth of yours.”_

_Caroline stretched her arm behind her and placed her hand overtop of his, hoping to alleviate the sting of his pulling her hair. Her cheek was rosy and her eyes were puffy. She tried to no avail to hold back tears. They fell down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the satisfaction on his face at witnessing her own pain._

_“You know what happens when you lie,” he growled in her ear, sending shivers all the way from her spine to her toes._

_“Billy—”_

_He didn’t care to hear her protests or apologies. He released her waist and threw her towards her bed by her hair. She bounced off the edge, landing on the floor with a hard thud as Billy tore through her room like a hurricane. He violently flipped her desk chair over and used his arm to swipe across the desk, knocking her lamp, jar of pens, and notebook to the floor. Caroline brought her knees up against her chest and ducked her head, covering herself with her arms, making herself as small as possible as he continued his rampage. She didn’t know what he was breaking—all she had heard was another crash and shattering._

_There was a brief pause before he stomped his way over toward her bed. She jerked away from the sound of him, terrified that he would kick her or pull her hair again. But the physical assault didn’t come. He reached for her paperback copy of The Grapes of Wrath and savagely ripped at its pages. Classic literature in the form of confetti rained down sounding like fluttering wings upon her until he was satisfied with his destruction._

_He tossed what remained of her book on the floor. The tattered spine hit her bare feet. Everything was quiet and still. Caroline lifted her head to survey the damage. Strange shadows were plastered on her wall and floor, the unfamiliar angle of the mangled lamp creating new images. Pages of John Steinbeck littered her floor like a New Years afterparty. The porcelain ballerina from the music box her father had given her as a child laid amongst the debris, its base in splintered pieces near her window._

_Her heart sank. It was her favorite possession in the world—a memory from when her father took her, just her, to see The Nutcracker when she was eight years old. A time when she wanted to be a ballerina. A time in her life when she danced freely and carelessly and had all the confidence in the world. A time when her parents were together, and life was good. When her hair and cheeks were stroked gently and lovingly at bed time, embraced in the safety of her father's arms as he read her bedtime stories of princesses and knights in shining armor. When the only monsters in the world were those that had three eyes and fuzzy bodies and hid in closets and under beds, not those with tanned skin and curly blonde hair that drove Camaros._

_Caroline hurriedly crawled past Billy’s legs and retrieved the delicate ballerina in her hand, sweeping the pieces of the music box in a pile as if she would be able to piece it back together. She let the tears fall while she hung her head._

_Billy’s tanned and toned legs approached her from the side at a pace much more pacified than before. He knelt beside her and examined the broken pile. Softly, he placed his hand under her chin, encouraging her to look at him. He kept his fingers on her jaw to make sure she would not look away while he spoke. Her blue eyes glistened behind her tears but seemed to be a few shades darker now. Her eyebrows creased and nostrils flared as she looked at his perfectly peaceful face. She felt her cheeks both turning red now from the hatred that was boiling within her._

_He broke eye contact to look at her lips, still plump but turned downward in a frown. He thought briefly of kissing them. In this moment he felt so powerful and in control; he could do anything to her that he wanted to, and he certainly had an imagination. He would definitely need to jerk off later. He looked back up at her eyes which now seemed to have less hatred and more trepidation, as if she could hear what he was thinking._

_“You see what that mouth of yours does to me?” he asked in a tone slightly above a whisper. Her breath hitched in her throat and he felt her somewhat try to pull away from his grasp. In a harsher movement, he pushed her face away while releasing her jaw. “Clean this mess up,” he ordered while walking away._

“I’m not lying, Billy,” Caroline repeated her innocence.

Billy ran his tongue over his teeth and then grinned. “My mistake,” he feigned responsibility for the situation.

Caroline shook her head as a symbol of _don’t worry about it_. She watched as the lot became less populated. Hordes of students trekked to main entrance before the first bell rang. He pulled his sunglasses down so she could see his eyes. That fire was there.

“I mean, _fuck_ _me_ , right?” Billy chuckled with a false display of humor. “Fuck…” he paused, “Billy Hargrove.”

* * * * *

In the past week alone, Caroline had told six lies. She hated this side of her. Ever since they moved from California, Billy has been acting more like a jerk. More possessive, more controlling. Everything was becoming a lie. Because of his history, Caroline felt the need to lie so she would be permitted to go to a party and experience normal teenage life. To avoid the inevitable shit storm that was sure to follow after she had made Billy wait for twenty minutes after school, she had to lie about why she was late. To protect herself and Steve, she felt the need to lie about the whole ride situation. All of these lies had one thing in common: Billy. They were all because of Billy. When had he made her a prisoner of her own life?

“I’m really sorry I got you in trouble with your old man,” Steve rubbed the back of his head as they walked slowly down the hall to their next class.

“No, it wasn’t your fault,” Caroline chuckled. “I was supposed to be somewhere, and I wasn’t.” _Not a lie._

“What if I came over and apologized to him? Face to face. It’s the least I could do.” His offer was sweet and genuine.

Caroline couldn’t help but smile at the thoughtfulness. If this were truly about Neil, Steve would have Neil’s respect in a heartbeat. Not only did Neil love it when people accepted responsibility for actions, he also loved it when people kissed his ass. She considered the possibility of Steve actually meeting Neil and her mom face to face upon their return. Perhaps with Neil’s approval, Billy would back off.

“No, he was pretty pissed. I think it would just be best to let things settle down for a few days. Things will be better in a week.” _Lie._

Steve rushed his next few steps to get in front of her and then stopped, forcing Caroline to stop walking.

“What if I can’t go a week without seeing you?” His charming smile brought the butterflies in her stomach to life.

Caroline huffed a short, amused laugh. She walked around him to continue down the hall, careful to not bump into people. “You’ll see me in school.”

He again quickened his pace and halted in front of her. Grasping her elbow, he guided her off to the side against a row of lockers that didn’t belong to them. “School is hardly the place for a first date.”

That familiar feeling of fireworks in her chest arose. Her cheeks flushed as the fireworks exploded. Any doubt that she had about his feelings towards her were quickly swept away with this morning’s kiss and now this statement of inability to go a week without seeing her outside of school.

“Steve Harrington, are you asking me on a date?” she blushed.

He placed his empty hand on his hip and looked down at his feet. He shuffled in place, feeling somewhat bashful himself. He and Nancy had only been broken up for one day. _One day._ But, based on the rumors he had been hearing, she had no problem with moving on quickly following Tina’s party. _Why should he?_ Caroline was a beautiful girl, and he was attracted to her. Judging by the way her skin flushed when they were with each other, and the fact that she didn’t slap him when he kissed her this morning, he felt safe in assuming that she was attracted to him as well.

Bringing his eyes up to meet hers, he admitted, “Yeah, I guess I am.”

A locker door slammed loudly down the hall. It was enough to make her glance in the direction. _Billy._ He was staring at her and held his hands up questioningly as if to say, _What did I tell you?_ She tried to erase the smile from her face, but she had a difficult time doing that with Steve directly in front of her. The expression on his face was full of hope.

“I’ll let you know,” she smirked and then stepped around him.

Steve grinned and turned to watch her walk away. She glanced back at him again, just as she had the day before. It was the unspoken confirmation that she wanted it, too. He pushed himself away from the lockers and backtracked the way from which they had just come for his next class.

Billy was waiting for her at his locker. The blue shirt that he was wearing this morning was undone halfway down his abdomen. The contrasting white wifebeater underneath covered him modestly. They didn’t typically walk to their second period class together. It was convenient enough for him, though, that he had just seen this interaction between her and Harrington on the way to class. As she approached him, the smile that she had had difficulty erasing soon faded without issue at all. Their eyes locked. Something about being in school surrounded by multiple witnesses made her more confident in dealing with Billy.

Her pace never faltered once she reached him. He immediately joined her, hovering close behind her like a shadow. The headache inducing familiarity of his cologne attacked her nose. She was glad he was a pace behind her so she would at least be able to get some air

“You got something in your ears, or just shit for brains?” he hissed.

“Calm down, _narbo,_ ” Caroline retorted with annoyance. “We have classes together. You can’t expect me to have no interaction with him.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” warned Billy as they approached room 131 for English class.

Caroline placed her hand on the door just as the bell rang. They were the last to arrive.

“Likewise, asshole.”


	11. Chapter 11

“Shirts,” the gym teacher pointed his outstretched hand to the group of boys on the left. “Skins,” he signaled to the group of boys on the right.

Billy had been staring at Steve for the past minute with a burning hatred as hot as a thousand suns. He had made himself very clear to Caroline that she was to stay away from Steve, and yet she openly defied him. He would have to send a clear message to Steve, as well, knowing Caroline’s increasingly disobedient and testing behavior. _If she won’t listen, maybe Steve will._ Steve had been staring back with his hands on his hips, but when the teacher announced the teams, he was the first to break eye contact and take his place on the varnished court. This made Billy smile. He was most definitely the dominant one. He slipped out of his gray shirt quickly and tossed it on the bleachers.

The whistle blew and the play began. It was always Steve on Billy or Billy on Steve. The two had singled each other out. Remembering the previous time on the court together fueled Steve’s defensiveness against Billy. Admittedly, he played more aggressively than he typically did. At one point he threw his shoulder into Billy so hard that he nearly knocked him down, eliciting at first a look of surprise followed by a sinister grin from Billy as he realized that Steve had not quite achieved what he was probably aiming to do.

_This fucking guy._

Even Tommy H. had tried to get in on the action. Ever since Billy had moved to town, Tommy was like his little toady. In all honesty, Steve didn’t mind the loss of friendship. It was pathetic, really. Tommy had always been a bit of a jerk. Ever since the events unfolded last year with Nancy and the spray-painting incident, Steve just saw him in a different light. He was cruel just to be cruel. There was no conscience there.

The whistle blew. Steve wasn’t even anywhere near the ball when Tommy checked him hard with his shoulder, sending him falling backwards onto the floor with a grunt. He hit the back of his head against the floor. _Instant headache._ To soothe the dull ache, he fleetingly rubbed the back of his head.

Steve quickly pushed himself off the floor and stood nose to nose with his former friend. “What the _hell,_ Tommy?”

“What?” Tommy feigned innocence and smiled a big, dopey grin.

Steve wanted to knock those freckles right off his face.

“I didn’t even have the ball,” Steve held his hands out and raised his voice.

Tommy snorted, “Woops.”

“You know, you’ve been a _dick_ ever since you started hanging around the new guy,” Steve hissed with a rough push to Tommy’s bare chest. Tommy stumbled two steps back but caught his balance.

He pushed Steve back with the same amount of force. “Surprised you managed to stay on your feet that time, Harrington. You’re spending more time kissing the floor than you are playing the game.”

“Alright, break it up,” the teacher commanded from the other side of the room. Classmates chattered and also offered their advice to just _let it go_ and _get back to the game._

“Are you giving me shit because I did something to you, or just because that’s what your buddy’s doing?”

Tommy grinned a shit-eating grin. His eyes nearly disappeared behind his smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No?” Steve was irritated. He glanced back at Billy, who cocked an eyebrow and crooked grin. “Must just be a coincidence, huh?” Steve and Tommy again stood nose to nose.

“Harrington! Hagan!” the teacher walked promptly across the court in case his physical intervention was needed. His new white sneakers squeaked against the shiny wood as he approached. He stood beside the two boys who didn’t even bother to acknowledge his presence. “Save it for the parking lot.”

“Yeah,” Tommy quietly taunted as he pressed two fingers against Steve’s chest. “Save it for the parking lot.”

Steve slapped his hand away and turned on his heel. Tommy’s obnoxious laugh echoed throughout the gymnasium when Steve walked away from him. Embarrassment and anger set in. Steve could feel his face turning red as he clenched his fists and then rubbed his sweaty palms on his gym shorts.

“Put a lid on it, Hagan,” the teacher warned.

“Yes, sir,” Tommy calmly replied, never losing his grin.

Some commands were given, and classmates scattered throughout the room. The whistle blew again to signal the beginning of the next play. Shirtless Tony looked for someone whom he could pass the basketball. Steve glanced over his shoulder to keep an eye on the ball while working to block Billy from retrieving it. Billy had a cocky grin on his face and licked his lips as he and Steve pushed at each other. With the pressure building, Tony threw to his left. Billy quickly stepped around Steve and caught the ball with a laugh.

“Ha _ha_! _Alright_!” His pace now became leisurely as he bounced the ball in front of Steve and looked around. “Alright, alright. _Steve_ ,” he taunted at Steve’s inability to effectively block him. He outstretched his free hand and mockingly gestured to his rival. “King Steve, everyone!” He took a few steps forward and then crouched slightly in place, bouncing the ball in front of Steve. “I like it. You’re playing tough today.”

“ _Jesus_. D’you ever stop talking, man? _Come on,_ ” Steve tried to encourage the continuation of the game. He shuffled his feet, ready to move in any direction Billy went. His eyes darted from Billy’s to the ball and back again.

Billy just continued to dribble the ball seemingly relaxed without advancing forward. “What?” he chuckled with arrogance, noting Steve’s moving feet. “You afraid the coach is gonna bench you now that I’m here? Huh?”

He hadn’t thought about it. Steve’s head tried to remain in the game, but he was exasperated at how things were going. Billy was good. He played dirty, but he was good.

Suddenly, Billy pushed forward. Throwing his shoulder into Steve, he thrust Steve to the ground before making his way to the hoop and tossing the ball effortlessly into the net. As predicted, Tommy showed up at his side with a congratulatory high-five. Steve was embarrassed. Part of what made him King Steve was how good he was on the court. Billy’s presence messed with his head. He started to feel like anything he could do, Billy could do better. And other people were witness to it.

To his surprise, Billy approached and offered him a hand to help him up. Begrudgingly, Steve took his hand. The grip was firm. Too firm. Billy squeezed his hand hoping to hear bones crunch. He leaned forward and spoke lowly.

“You were moving your feet.” Billy glared into Steve’s eyes and stood over him like the alpha male that he was. “Plant them next time. _Draw_ a _charge_.” The last words were spoken through gritted teeth. Instead of following through with helping Steve back to his feet, he gruffly pushed him back down and released his hand. He stepped over him and continued on his way. It was no surprise that he wasn’t a good sport.

At the end of class, Steve hit the shower. He had worked up a good sweat, but he really just needed to cool down. Mentally as well as physically. He chose the circle of showers in the far end of the locker room for added seclusion. His head pounded. He felt overwhelmed. Tommy was right. He had spent more time on the floor this class than he ever had before. Billy noticed a weakness and went after it. He moved his feet too much.

Tommy and Billy approached the showers where Steve was even though there were several free stalls available. Steve rolled his eyes with a heavy outward breath but remained quiet. He was already too defeated. It was two against one. Tommy would no longer come to his defense. Then again, Tommy didn’t really come to his defense in the past so much as when he saw the opportunity for a fight or drama with anyone, he took it.

Tommy smirked when Steve glanced up and looked away without a word. He turned on the shower and began to lather himself with soap. Billy took the shower right next to Steve. Another act of dominance. Another way he communicated that he didn’t care about Steve’s comfort or space. He would take whatever he saw fit to take. Billy turned on the water and grossly blew out each nostril before rubbing his nose to rinse away the snot.

Steve closed his eyes and wet his hair, hoping that if he stayed quiet that the other two would stay quiet as well. He felt self-conscious. Exposed. Not because he was in the shower, but because Billy seemed to pick up on things. With Tommy’s help, he could know all about Steve. Any secret that was told in confidence, any embarrassing moment from his past. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was being bullied. Billy stared at him as the water hit against his chest for a quick rinse.

“Don’t sweat it, Harrington,” Billy broke the silence in a friendly manner. “Today’s just not your day, man.” He turned off the water and reached for a towel to begin drying himself.

“Yeah, not your _week_ ,” joked Tommy. “You and the princess break up for one day and she’s already running off with the freak’s brother.”

Steve glanced at him but remained silent. _Is that true?_ He had known about the party over the weekend, and yeah, he and Nancy had an argument yesterday during class, but did she really run off with Byers? And if so, how is it that Tommy knows about it and he doesn’t? Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen her all day.

Tommy saw the arrow through Steve’s heart and chuckled. With a scoff, he continued. “Oh, _shit_. You don’t know.” He smiled at knowing something about Steve’s life before Steve even knew it. “Johnathan and the princess skipped yesterday, still haven’t shown.” He leaned in and sarcastically used Steve’s earlier words against him with a sarcastic smile still smeared on his freckled face. “But that must just be a _coincidence_ , right?”

He laughed and reveled in Steve’s anguish. All the bullshit they had gone through last year with Byers and Steve going back and forth in Nancy’s defense, this was the cherry on top. That even after all that, Nancy _still_ chose Byers. Tommy turned off the water and wrapped his towel around his waist. He took one final look at Steve who looked like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest. He chuckled and shook his head before walking away towards the lockers.

 _This shouldn’t bother me,_ Steve thought. _I kissed Caroline; I like her. I moved on fast, too._ But, it did bother him. All those years of friendship with Nancy. The time he had spent wooing her and dating her. All the shit they had gone through with those… things. He had been her first… _everything._ Gone. All gone. Like it meant nothing. Like _he_ meant nothing. Maybe he really was _bullshit,_ just like Nancy had said. Sure, she was drunk when she had said it. But, what’s that saying? _A drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts._ The same probably held true for girls. He lathered his hair with shampoo as he thought about Nancy with Byers and how jealous it made him feel.

Billy smirked because he saw the same forlorn look that Tommy had seen. _Perhaps there’s hope yet._ Steve needed to keep his thoughts on Nancy, or any other girl for that matter. Anyone but Caroline. He wrapped the towel around his hips.

“Don’t take it too hard, man,” Billy interrupted Steve’s train of thought with false sympathy. Steve didn’t bother to look at him or verbally respond. “Pretty boy like you has got nothing to worry about. Plenty of bitches in the sea.”

Billy licked his lips and turned the dial to Steve’s shower head so that the water was cut off. Steve squinted his eyes and looked at Billy the best he could. Soap covered his face and bubbly shampoo slowly dripped from his hairline. His eyes began to burn, eager for the water to wash it all away.

“But if you think you’re going to get over your whore girlfriend by burying your dick in my stepsister’s pussy, you got another thing comin’.”

Billy’s face was stern, and his voice was calm and low. For the past two years he had fantasized about being her first. There was nothing romantic about it; he just wanted to fully wreck her. Make her scream and cum so hard that she would forget her own name but not the fact that it was Billy that did it. Being her first meant that he would totally ruin any other intimate connection she would ever have. No one else would ever be able to compare. Not even close. She would have no choice but to come crawling back for more with the added shame that Mommy’s sweet little Caroline wanted her stepbrother’s cock. The thought of her on her hands and knees at his feet almost made him hard.

“You stay away from her. Do you hear me?”

Steve didn’t know what to say. He had not been expecting something so direct to come out of Billy’s mouth. The thought of having sex with Caroline hadn’t even crossed his mind. _Okay, maybe it had,_ but not as a way to get over Nancy. Caroline was a beautiful girl. Everyone has fantasies about beautiful people, whether they’re with someone or not. He simply nodded his head. There was no energy left today for arguments.

Billy smirked and gave a firm wet slap on Steve’s arm. “Glad we have an understanding,” he called out behind him as he walked away.

Steve watched him walk away. He didn’t usually like to get caught up in drama, but he would be damned if he let another guy tell him what he could and could not do. He angrily slapped the dial for his shower back on. The water was cold at first but quickly came back to its previous temperature. He stepped underneath the steady stream and rinsed the suds from his hair. He mulled over Billy’s demand and thought _what’s the worst thing he could do._

* * * * *

Caroline bit her lip to hide a smile as she kicked her legs back and forth on her bed. Regardless of that English paper still not being done, she was distracted by his handwriting. Steve’s number was written on her hand in blue ink. It was a last-minute request when they parted ways after eighth period. She had given him her number as well. They still needed to make plans for a first date. She grazed her finger over the writing and wondered when he might call.

Billy was at his weight bench doing bicep curls with a set of dumbbells. MTV loudly played rock music in the background. An upbeat song to motivate his continued progress. His muscles burned. He looked down at the bulging shape of them, content with how big they had gotten within the past year. Especially now that they were in Hawkins, there was really nothing else to do. _Bulk up, fight, or fuck._ Those were the options. If fate was on his side, he’d get to do all three in the same week.

His thoughts wandered off to Caroline. Their ride home had been particularly quiet with Max’s absence. He had tried making conversation—or rather, he had tried to get her to fight and argue because it made him hard to get her angry enough to the point where they got physical with each other—but Caroline’s answers had been short and disinterested. _At least she didn’t bring up Harrington._ Steve was intimidated by him. He knew it. Always the first to break eye contact. Threatened by his prowess on the basketball court. Loss of a crown. Probably jealous that he got to sleep in the same house as Caroline. _If only he knew I’ve seen her tits, too._

Finished with his reps, he placed the dumbbells back on the floor and shook his arms. The phone in the dining room rang. He reached for his pack of cigarettes that had been sitting on the bench and popped a stick between his lips, flipping the lighter like he was doing a magic trick as he lit it. _Riiiiiiing._ He took a deep puff.

“Are you gonna get that?!” he called out and stood still, waiting for a response.

Caroline was in her room doing her homework. The door was closed. Between the loud music and her daydreams about Steve, she hadn’t heard the phone ring.

_Riiiiiiing._

Billy groaned and placed the cigarette between his lips again. He marched into the dining room and harshly grabbed the phone off the hook from where it was perched on the wall as it rang one more time.

Ripping the cigarette from his mouth after taking another puff, he answered with an aggravated, “What?”

“Uhh,” a male voice spoke, obviously not expecting such a rude and abrupt greeting. “Is Caroline home?”

Billy propped his shoulder against the wall and glanced towards Caroline’s room. He smirked and took another drag from the cigarette, blowing the smoke out slowly into the mouthpiece so the caller could hear the whistling release of his breath.

“Is this Harrington?” Billy asked in a low voice so Caroline would not hear.

 _Click._ The call ended when the person on the other end of the line hung up. When he heard the dial tone sound, Billy’s smirk retracted to a firm line as he returned the corded phone to its hook. _It had to have been Harrington._ He looked at Caroline’s door again and felt his anger start to prickle in his chest. He took one final drag of his cigarette before tossing it in the sink. It fizzled lightly when it hit some water droplets still in the basin. With hard stomps, he stormed over to her door and opened it forcefully. The door banged against the wall.

Caroline jumped on her bed but remained laying on her stomach. “ _Jesus,”_ she exclaimed as her heart settled back down. “Don’t you know how to knock?”

Ignoring her question and standing in the doorway, he interrogated her in an eerily calm manner. “Why is Harrington calling you?”

Caroline perked up and stood from the bed. “Steve’s on the phone?” she asked with a little too much excitement in her voice. A smile threatened to form at the corners of her mouth.

“No,” Billy snorted, “the pussy hung up when I answered.”

Caroline sighed and slumped back down on her bed. “Don’t call him that.”

She hated some of the words that her stepfather and stepbrother used. They could be so vulgar and hurtful at times. She returned her attention back to the English paper that she had started working on.

Billy rubbed his mouth with his hand and stretched his jaw. His stubble etched against his calloused fingers with a soft scratching sound. “I thought I told you to stay away from him.”

Caroline held out her hands and looked around the bedroom. “Do you see me with him right now?”

“Cut the attitude,” Billy sharply warned her. “Why is he calling you?”

Caroline shrugged as if she did not know. Like she and Steve hadn’t exchanged numbers for the purpose of arranging a date and whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears outside of school hours.

“Guess you’ll have to ask _him_.” Caroline was cool, calm, and collected. She picked up her pencil again and resumed writing.

Billy’s eyes were drawn to the phone number scrawled on her skin. He took quick steps towards her and grabbed her writing hand. The sudden movement had caused her to draw a thick gray line through her paper. It was more than just coincidence that a male caller who sounded an awful lot like Steve had asked for Caroline, and she just so happened to have a phone number written on her hand.

“What’s this?” Billy pushed her own hand back into her face. “King _Steeeve?”_ He grinded his teeth together. She turned her head away and he angrily released her hand. Her silence gave away the answer that he already knew. “You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me.”

Unable to hide her own anger and disgust at the situation, she glared at him with a fierce expression. Brows creased and nostrils flared. Her lips wrinkled into a small pucker. He towered over her with glistening muscles that flexed as he balled his hands into fists. His feet were planted apart, taking up more space than he needed to.

“Do it,” Caroline seethed.

Her bravery surprised him. “What?” Billy raised his eyebrows like Neil did when he did not like a response that was given. A warning for if the same behavior or attitude continued, that there would be hell to pay.

Caroline sat up on her bed before planting her bare feet on the floor and standing up in front of Billy. She stretched her legs and back to make herself as tall as she could, but she still stood inches shorter than him. There was hardly any room at all between them.

“Do it,” she repeated with the same tenacity as before. “Break my things. Beat me, bruise me, smack me around.” He cocked an eyebrow at her and flicked his tongue against his bottom right molar. “Because at the end of the day, it still doesn’t change the fact that _I’m_ the one in charge of my life. Not _you_. Not _Neil_. Not _Mom_. _Me._ And if I want to go out with Steve, I’m going to go out with Steve. Whether you like it or not. I don’t need your permission. So, go ahead.” She took one more step forward and their chests nearly touched. “Do it.”

Billy huffed a sinister laugh and looked away from her, considering her offer to go ahead and do it. He considered what he would do this time. What would he break? Where would he make his mark? He looked back down at her. The fear that was usually visible on her face was barely there. Something had happened that had convinced her that talking back to him was okay. And it wasn’t.

“You wouldn’t be pulling this level of _crap_ if Mom and Neil were home,” Caroline continued, stepping away from him and walking to the other side of her room, arms crossed.

Even though she had found her voice, she was still intimidated. Still nervous about what he might do. But it had to end somewhere. She had endured the last two years of being his housemate and suffering his increasingly volatile behavior towards her and Max. She had hoped that mentioning their parents’ eventual return would be enough to reign him in.

“You’re just trying to take advantage of the fact that they’re not here, and you want to be in control.”

“Is that right?” Billy posed, turning to look at her and crossing his own arms to match her stance.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Caroline nodded. “I don’t know why you’ve decided to take all your pent-up hostility out on _me,_ but I’m tired of it. So go lift your weights, drink beer with your little friends, do _whatever it is that you do,_ ” she flailed her arms in front of her for added flair, “and stay out of my life.”

With the music still blasting on the TV, neither of them had heard Max return. She stopped in front of Caroline’s doorway before recognizing that she and Billy were in the middle of something. She wasn’t about to get involved. Not when she didn’t know what had started it in the first place. Billy saw Caroline’s eyes dart past him and look at the doorway. He turned his head just in time to see a flash of red disappear. He smirked.

“You know what,” Billy flashed a devilish smirk as he turned his head back to look at Caroline, “you’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

Caroline knew better than to assume he would accept defeat or responsibility or _anything_ that placed him in the wrong.

“I shouldn’t be taking all of my _pent-up hostility_ out on you.”

_Or maybe…_

“I mean,” he took a few slow steps backwards, “I have _two_ shithead stepsisters that don’t listen worth a damn.”

“Billy—” Caroline started to follow him.

He turned abruptly and barged into Max’s bedroom, snatching her skateboard and immediately walking out the front door with it. He was only in the room long enough for Max to yell a distressed, “Hey!” before he was gone.

Both girls followed him outside and stopped just outside of the sunporch.

“What is he doing?” Max panicked as Billy walked down the sidewalk and stopped when he got to the steps close to the curb.

Max’s heart jumped into her throat when she saw Billy raise the board high above his head and bring it down strongly against the concrete edge of the step. Not once, but twice.

“No!” Max screamed and stepped forward. Caroline grabbed her sister by the shoulders and held her back, giving a gentle squeeze to tell her to stop.

An audible crack echoed in the air as the end of her board snapped and separated from the rest of its body. Billy twisted his back and threw the remainder of the board back into the yard like it was frisbee. It landed in the grass with a harsh bang.

Billy turned around and grinned while holding out his hands. Max ran to retrieve her board from the grass, hoping that it was salvageable.

Caroline crossed her arms and felt her heartbreak for Max. _This had nothing to do with her._ Billy strode up the sidewalk back to the sunporch and stopped when he was beside Caroline, shoulder to shoulder. She turned to look at him with the same fierce look as earlier, although this time she remained silent. He gazed at her for several long seconds without saying anything. The rage that he had felt just moments prior, somehow gone. His demeanor was calm again, like breaking Max’s skateboard by some means expelled the demon that was clawing to get out. Max pushed past him and Caroline to go back in the house with the pieces of her board. Faint rumbles of him being an _asshole_ died off the further into the house she walked.

Caroline swallowed the lump in her throat. Max was her weakness, and he knew it. It wasn’t fair that he would enforce consequences on Max for Caroline’s lack of compliance with his outlandish demands. She was stuck. For the next six or seven months or so until they graduated and she was eighteen and could conceivably move out and be on her own.

Billy waggled his finger in front of him as he spoke. “I’ll extinguish that fire in you one day.”

His eyes pierced through her with one final glance before he lowered his finger and ascended the steps into the house. For some reason, she didn't doubt him. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience as the story develops and builds up. Next chapter will have some sexual content.

Billy had resumed working out at his weight bench while Caroline was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Max had withdrawn to her bedroom with a roll of duct tape. No doubt trying to mend the busted skateboard with the only tool available to her. Another cigarette hung loosely from Billy’s lips. He regretted tossing his last one aside so hastily in the heat of the moment. _Such a waste_. Ratt’s _Round and Round_ played on MTV as he counted the number of times he had already lifted the weighted barbell.

The doorbell rang. He ignored it, hoping that one of the girls would answer so he could finish his weightlifting regimen. Caroline dropped something in the kitchen with a clatter and a grumble. Everything she did in the kitchen was done more noisily, a deliberate display of her disgust and discontentment. _She’ll learn one way or another._ He counted his reps again, but twice more in quick succession the doorbell sounded.

With a roll of his eyes, he grunted and returned the barbell to its resting place. He removed the cigarette from his mouth so he could savor it again after yelling for Max since Caroline was busy. “Max, are you getting that, or what?!”

“ _Okay!_ ” came the little redhead’s sharp, irritated response from her room.

Billy shook his head in aggravation at her attitude. “I swear to God, Max!” A lack of patience radiated from his voice. Caroline had already been giving him attitude today. Far too much for even his liking. He wondered if they were both on their periods with how incredibly bitchy they were being.

Max tramped out of her room with heavy, hurried feet. She glared at Billy as she walked past, but he did not seem to pay her any attention. The clanking of metal on metal behind her marked his return to lifting weights. Max turned the doorknob and yanked the door open. Stopping dead in her tracks like a deer in headlights, she widened her eyes at the person in front of her. _Steve._ She quickly glanced back at Billy, who was too distracted with his weights to notice anything amiss, and then returned her shocked expression to Steve. She instantly closed the door in his face and paused momentarily. She walked back to the kitchen for Caroline.

Steve jerked his head back when the door closed abruptly after Max had just opened it. Was she getting Caroline? Was this the international signal for ‘ _we don’t want any, go away’_? He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit since his preteen years, and contemplated his next move. _Should I stay or should I go? Ring the doorbell again and hope that someone else answers?_

Caroline stood at the stovetop, stirring a wooden spoon into a pot of marinara sauce. It splattered onto the cream-colored surface when a red bubble popped. Another grumble came from Caroline while she reduced the heat to the burner and waited for the spaghetti noodles to finish cooking in their separate pot of water.

“Uhhhm,” Max brushed up against Caroline’s arm, turning and stretching to peek at Billy who was changing positions to lay on his bench. She got close enough to Caroline to whisper, “Steve’s at the front door.”

Caroline snapped her head to look at Max who in turn just nodded with wide eyes. Knowing Billy’s tendency to interrogate every little thing, she handed Max the wooden spoon to prompt her to keep watch over dinner. She whispered back, “If Billy asks, it’s a young bible salesman in a blue suit.”

Max nodded her head and stepped into Caroline’s place in front of the stove. She used the saucy spoon to stir the noodles around in the boiling water. She peeped behind her and watched Caroline disappear around the corner as she made a beeline to the front door, praying that Billy would be too distracted with himself and his music to notice or care.

Caroline picked up the pace as she walked to the front door, desperately hoping that Steve was still there, and if he were, that he wouldn’t ring the doorbell again. To her relief, he was there. Thick brown hair brushed back from his eyes in a plush heap atop his head. Perplexity washed over his face when Caroline stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

“Hi. What are you doing here?” she spoke with hushed volume, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm from the brisk air.

Steve smiled but matched her quieted tone. “Well, I tried to call, but—” Too embarrassed to admit that he hung up when Billy correctly identified him on the phone, he changed his story a tad. “I know you said to let things cool off for a few days, but I figured I could apologize to your stepdad for yesterday, and maybe take you out to eat?”

“Oh,” Caroline whispered with a smile. “Well, uh,” she was about to tell another fabrication. _Fucking Billy._ “My stepdad’s busy right now…” _He’s actually not home, and he won’t be home for another week and this whole thing has nothing to do with him…_ “and I have dinner on the stove right now.”

How humiliating it would be to admit how much control she had surrendered to Billy over the years. Control that she was trying to regain, but his claws were in deep. It was easier to pretend, with Steve at least, that it was her stepdad’s rules she needed to follow. She realized how messed up it was. If only she had spoken up sooner when it first started happening, then perhaps she would not be in the position she was in now. Maybe the hole she found herself in wouldn’t be quite so deep. Billy was a monster, and her complicity only managed to feed the beast. No, perhaps complicity wasn’t the correct word. She didn’t allow it, per se. Wasn’t okay with it. Didn’t approve of it or welcome it. He scared the ever-loving shit out of her when it first started. _Still does, kind of._ And that first threat that he had ever made was enough to keep her lips sealed.

Steve bit his lip and nodded his head, feeling like Caroline was trying to let him down gently. Caroline knew that her time was running out. Billy would grow curious at who was at the front door for so long.

“Tell you what,” she got an idea. “Tomorrow, can you meet me at that corner at four o’clock to pick me up?” She pointed to her left down the street. Several houses down there was an intersection with a stop sign.

He turned and looked in the direction which Caroline just pointed. He pointed, too. A silly gesture to make sure he understood exactly where to go.

“Uh,” he seemed confused as to why he couldn’t pick her up at her front door but decided to go along with it. “Yeah, I can do that. Four o’clock?”

Caroline nodded her head. “Just until this all blows over. It’ll be our secret,” she smiled and offered a wink to lighten the mood.

Steve flashed a toothy grin. “Okay.”

His eyes dropped to her lips, and hers to his. He licked his lips, remembering the faint taste of cherries the first time he had kissed her. The taste had long since disappeared from his own mouth, and he longed for it once more. He stepped forward and craned his neck to get closer to her face. Caroline couldn’t resist. Perhaps she really did have shit for brains because she felt like she was turning to mush and had no sense or care in the world right now. She smiled and tipped closer until their lips met. The slightest sensation of his tongue tracing her lips tickled enough for her to open her mouth and allow him access. Her stomach fluttered and cheeks flushed at the action. Their tongues gently caressed each other as he deepened the kiss, bringing his hands to either side of her face, afraid she would pull back or that he would float away on the cloud of euphoria that he was currently riding.

Just as he had feared, she gently started to pull away from him. He tried to persuade her for a few more seconds by providing some resistance, but she cupped his hands into hers and peeled them away from her face. He allowed her to, but _damn_ he hated the loss of connection. The kiss reminded him of Nancy. Not quite as green but still a little shy.

Holding his hands in hers, she lightly swung them between their two bodies and asked, “Tomorrow?” with pleading eyes.

“Tomorrow,” Steve nodded with a coy smile.

“Okay,” Caroline bit her lip to keep herself from smiling like a fool.

“I’ll see ya.”

Steve’s hands slid from hers as he retreated from the sunporch and began walking back to his car that was parked along the front curb in front of Billy’s. As had become their pattern, he turned and looked at her once he reached his car. They smiled at each other, eager for the next day to arrive. Caroline took in a deep breath and exhaled quickly, rubbing her face to wipe any sign of happiness from it.

Billy noticed that Caroline had been outside for a few minutes. It was odd to not invite a guest into the house (even though he really didn’t want any additional company). He sat up on his bench after returning the barbell to its rightful place. He plucked the cigarette from his lips and poked his tongue between them. He turned and looked at the closed door, wondering what was happening on the other side of it. _Who’s out there?_ He dipped down and picked up the unopened can of beer he had placed at his feet for an after-workout reward.

Slowly, he stood and turned to face the yellow door. At a leisurely pace he walked towards the front of the house, his eyes glued to the front door like he would suddenly develop x-ray vision and be able to see right through it. Bubbly carbonation fizzled as he cracked open the tab and took a long, slow drink from the can. His footsteps were light. Rather than sweep in like a violent storm he would approach as quiet as a mouse. There would be no warning this time if he were to catch her disobeying him again. When he stood about five feet from the door, it suddenly burst open. Caroline stepped inside with fervor. Her mid-back length hair flew in the air when she whipped back around from closing the door. She took a step forward and froze when she saw Billy forebodingly place his arm and can of beer on the mantle, effectively blocking her path.

“The hell were you just talking to?” he mumbled with piercing eyes directed at her own. He took another puff of his cigarette while he waited for her to answer.

Caroline blinked a few times before calmly lying. “Bible salesman.”

Billy allowed a faint smirk to tug at his lips. An entertained huff of air shot from his lungs. Smoke wafted from between his lips as he spoke. With a disbelieving and amused tone, he repeated, “Bible salesman?”

Nodding her head, she continued, “A talkative one.”

Irritated with him, she resumed her walk forward, colliding against his arm and pushing it from the mantle so she could return to the kitchen. He turned and watched her go, stupefied by her brazen act. Lightning bolts shot up his arms at her touch, and that familiar enticing burn tingled at the base of his belly. Because he knew she had something to hide, he approached the door and without hesitation swung it open. He stepped out onto the porch until he nearly reached the steps. Cold air struck his sweat-soaked skin in his cut off shirt and shorts, but it was the least of his concerns. No one was standing outside or walking down the sidewalk or the street. There were no unknown cars parked out front. There was, however, a dark-colored BMW driving down the street and coming to a stop at the intersection. Billy licked the front of his teeth and clenched his jaw. _I fucking knew it._ He recognized that car. He had seen it in the school parking lot multiple times.

He walked back inside and slammed the door behind him but opted to not say anything just yet. _She must be a glutton for punishment._ Retrieving his can of beer from the mantle, he took another long, slow drink while looming toward the kitchen. A sector of Caroline’s bare waist caught his eye as she stretched and struggled to reach the top shelf for the strainer. Her high waisted jeans were not high enough to combat the lifting fabric of her knitted sweater. Caroline stood on tiptoes and extended her fingers, but the needed item was just out of reach. Billy leaned his shoulder against the white-framed entryway to the kitchen and gawked at her lower half.

Her jeans hugged all the right places. The milky white skin of her abdomen, so much lighter than the rest of her frequently visible skin, was a place of unchartered territory. It was easy to get lost in his thoughts of running his hands over her waist and undoing the button and zipper purposefully slow while she would arch her back against him and rest her head against his shoulder. Of running his fingers down the front of her smooth torso and brushing the elastic band of her soft, cotton panties before slinking beneath the surface and continuing south. She would shiver, but with an arch of her back she would push her hips frontward and wrap her arm back around his neck, seeking his touch and beckoning him to keep going. A jagged breath when he took another sip of beer caused a slurping sound that drew Caroline’s attention to him, breaking his hypnotized gaze.

A weary sigh escaped Caroline’s mouth as she planted her feet flat on the floor again. She pointed up to the top shelf where the strainer sat out of reach and considerately asked, “Could you get that for me, please?”

 _Now she needs me,_ he thought to himself and allowed a chuckle disguised as a breath of air to pass through his lips. He stared for several seconds longer, bringing the cigarette back to his lips for a long drag while he studied her.

Lowering the cigarette from his mouth, he asked, “You ever hear the fable about the frog and the scorpion?” He lifted his chin to exhale the smoke in a sharp blast of air.

“What?” Caroline narrowed her eyes. Confusion swept over her face.

He nodded his head and slowly began to walk in her direction. He rolled his wrists, shrugged his shoulders, and moved his arms as he spoke, telling the story of the two beings.

“Scorpion is standing on the bank of a stream,” he began to tell the tale. “He needs to cross, but he can’t because he’ll drown. He spots a frog. Now, in their natural environment, the two are enemies. But, the frog can do something that the scorpion can’t. He can swim. And the scorpion _needs_ the frog to cross the stream.”

Billy took another sharp inhale from the Marlboro and looked up to meet Caroline’s eyes. Caroline leaned against the countertop, hands resting behind her against the ledge. She was unfamiliar with the story. She did not know where it was leading, but, nonetheless, she listened intently.

Billy continued, “Scorpion asks the frog to carry him on his back across the water. Frog asks, _‘How do I know you won’t sting me and kill me?’_ Reasonable question, right?” Caroline nodded her head. “The scorpion says, _‘I won’t. Because if I do, I’ll die, too.’_ The frog ponders this for a minute, and it makes sense to him. He’s satisfied with the response. So, he agrees to carry the scorpion across the stream on his back. The scorpion hops on, and the two set out into the water to cross to the opposite side. And in midstream, the scorpion _stings_ the frog.”

He stopped about three feet away from Caroline. “Paralysis begins to set in, and the frog feels himself starting to sink into the water. With his final breath he asks the scorpion, _‘Why?’_ To which the scorpion replies, _‘It’s my nature.’_ ”

Billy took a few final gulps of his beer and crushed the can between his fingers when he was finished. He tossed the empty can into the trash and returned the cigarette to his lips. Never one for telling tall tales or bedtime stories, Caroline understands that Billy is trying to make a point. This story’s themes include lying and betrayal, something which has become a theme in her own life.

“Knowing they’d both face irreversible consequences, the scorpion _still_ stung the frog. Even after he had promised that he wouldn’t. And the frog, going against his better judgement, agreed to take the scorpion on his back, even though he knew it was a predator.” He snubbed the cigarette out against the chrome-colored basin of the sink, leaving a black ashy mark against the surface. “Now, in this story,” he licked his lips and returned his eyes to Caroline’s, “which one are you?”

Caroline blinked at him, wondering what he had seen when he stepped outside. Something must have prompted him to tell this story. It was out of blue, after things had already settled down.

“Well, you’re definitely the scorpion,” she rolled her eyes and took her chances. The story and the manner in which it had been brought up gave her a chill, but she masked the uneasiness by speaking in a clear tone. “Now, can you please help me to get that strainer?” She pointed directly above her at the cabinet.

Billy smirked and licked his bottom lip. He rubbed his hand over the beginning stubble around his mouth and took a few steps until he was standing peripherally in front of Caroline. Her back was against the counter in front of the cabinet. She had not moved out of the way because she expected some sort of _‘Get it yourself, bitch’_ comeback.

Surprising her, he took two steps towards her. Mere inches were between them. The sharp scent of his Marlboro Red still lingered on his breath as he leaned forward. Caroline braced her hands back against the counter as his face advanced closer to hers. The look in his eyes was ravenous as his gaze darted from her baby blues to her pink pout. His upper teeth gleamed with a sheer coating of saliva as he bit his bottom lip. _Is he about to try to kiss me?_ Caroline internally panicked but could not find her voice. Only a muffled squeak seeped from her throat as his chest pressed up against hers. The discomfort of being this close led her to feel like she was in a dissociative fugue, watching their bodies from somewhere else in the room but having no control over the next actions. She gripped the edge of the laminate surface tighter. Palms were already sweaty.

Pressing his body up against her own, he raised his muscular arm and stood on his own tiptoes to retrieve the item that she had unsuccessfully attempted to get. When he raised himself, he rubbed his body against hers in the most miniscule yet noticeable way. He had grunted when he did it. He smelled like cigarettes and fresh sweat and felt like a boulder up against her— firm, solid, immovable. She held her breath. He sluggishly lowered his feet back to their usual position and brought his arm down, strainer in his grasp.

If it hadn’t been for the sound of Max shuffling out of her room to make her way to the kitchen, he would have stayed there as long as he could. He took a step back and held the strainer in between them. It was the only space between them.

Caroline timidly reached for the strainer, but Billy pulled it away so that the item was just out of reach once again. She looked at him with cautious eyes, feeling reduced to a piece of meat. Billy lowered his chin to look down at her and noticed the way her skin brightened at his proximity.

Whispering, he managed to ask his question before Max entered the room. “What are you gonna do for me?”

Caroline gulped. Her lungs screamed for air, having been held hostage this entire time. She gasped, louder than she had intended. The sudden sound elicited a grin from Billy.

Max stepped into the room and scrunched her brow when she saw Billy and Caroline standing so close to each other. The look on Caroline’s face was clearly discomfort. Neither of them moved.

“What’s going on?” Max queried the two older teens at the strange sight before her.

Caroline still seemed too stunned to muster enough energy for a reply. Billy calmly and marginally turned his head in Max’s direction.

“Nothing,” he lulled with the confidence of a lawyer. “Caroline needed something, and I got it for her.”

He looked back down at Caroline who now avoided his eyes altogether. She looked everywhere but his face. He took a step back and held the strainer between them for a second time, as if it the first time had not happened at all.

“Here you go,” he rasped.

Caroline snatched the strainer and mumbled a soft, “Thanks” before sidestepping and turning away from him to retrieve the spaghetti noodles.

Shaky hands worked to drain the pasta from the water. Max and Billy took their seats at the table and waited for Caroline to serve them, just as they had done countless times with Susan. Billy observed the jitteriness of her hands and the flustered manner in which she scooped the food onto the plates, dropping the utensil on the stovetop at least twice and taking a small pause to close her eyes and catch her breath. A smile formed on his face at the way she was unraveling, all because of him.

She was beginning to suspect his motive for sabotaging her budding relationship with Steve.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sexual content

Billy laid flat with his back on the weight bench. The untouched barbell above him was the furthest thing from his mind. He ran his fingers through her silken strands and closed his eyes as he let out a breathy moan. That last particular move of her tongue, suction just right, elicited a hiss from between his teeth and an uncontrolled shudder. He fisted her hair in his hand for something to hold onto. Jaw was slack as another moan crept from his throat. It was deep and guttural. A sound of pure ecstasy and satisfaction that pleaded for her to continue moving her mouth up and down on his shaft.

Sloppy, wet sucking noises mixed midair with his ragged gasps as she increased her speed ever so slightly. Added sensation of her skilled fingers massaging back and forth on his thigh and lightly squeezing the sensitive skin where his leg met his torso provoked a sudden jerk of his hips. Mouth having become too dry from all the panting and air being passed through, he licked his lips and dragged his teeth across the thin skin.

He opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at what she was doing. There was nothing hotter than being able to see their two bodies connected— a part of him disappearing inside of a part of her. Her light wavy hair, unkempt from his clutching and pulling, obscured his view. He gently gathered her hair into a makeshift ponytail and held it in place behind her head so he could see better. Those bright blue eyes flicked up at him when only his tip was in her mouth. Her tongue repeatedly flicked over the top of his penis while she sucked on the head and curled her fingers around the base of him, moving in drawn-out strokes. He loved watching her take him inside her.

“Faster,” his wheezing command was feeble and unconvincing.

She paused at the directive. Cheeks lifted and eyebrows arched as if she were smirking with his cock still in her mouth. Slowly— so excruciatingly, deliberately, provocatively slow— she steadied her hands on his thighs and slid him back into her mouth towards the warm, wet cavern of her throat. Never. Breaking. Eye contact. _Holy fuck._ Just as languidly as she had filled her mouth with him, she began to pull away. She flattened her tongue on the underside of his dick while she took her painstaking time on the upstroke.

He threw his head back onto the leather headrest of his bench and sighed. A weak chuckle shook his belly as he closed his eyes once more and faintly uttered in between pants, “You fucking bitch.”

Not angry though. At a time like this, with his dick in one of her orifices, he could not bring himself to be angry. _Just like her to disobey me._ Release was so near. He could feel his belly tightening with every lick and pull of her welcoming mouth. Teasing his arousal and postponing his orgasm only meant that her lips were wrapped around him for that much longer. An indulgence, beyond any he had ever fantasized about, that he would relish for years to come. She increased the pressure of her tongue, squeezing his length and sucking like his soul could be extracted through his dick. Even with the reduced pace, it was enough to make that tautness in his belly and testes wind even tighter.

He clenched his fingers around her hair tighter, needing to brace himself on something. Breathlessly, he warned, “You keep doing that and I’m gonna cum.”

As he should have anticipated with her tendency to do the opposite as instructed, she drew back her tongue and loosened the pressured ring of her mouth from his shaft. He should have kept his mouth shut. Billy lifted his head, a curl falling over his eye, to examine her sudden change in behavior. His lashes fluttered and eyes rolled as she increased her suction when the head of his penis was all that remained in her mouth. Caroline pulled back and allowed his tip to slip from her mouth with an audible _pop_ sound.

The cool air hit him as it mixed with the saliva covering his penis to create an uncomfortable reminder of her absence. He opened his eyes and watched as she smirked and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to rid it of the excess spit that had dripped out. A devilish smirk, likely at the understanding of how worked up she had made him—so close to rapture— and then denying him completion. She rocked back on her heels, drawing her hands slowly down his thighs until they were just resting on his bare knees. She remained kneeling in front of him.

He leaned himself up on his elbows and wrinkled his brows. “Why’d you stop?” The displeasure in his voice was evident.

Caroline used his knees to push herself into a standing position. She stepped between his spread thighs and hovered over him, tracing her hands up his legs, past his erection, to his taut abdomen. He bit his lip to keep from moaning. The effect just her fingertips had on him made him want to scream words that would make a sailor blush.

Hands now on his shoulders, she seductively asked, “Do you want more?”

 _Jesus Christ_ , he thought to himself, turned on by her sultry voice and the implication of her offer. All he could muster was a head nod. Caroline hummed a soft and satisfied sounding snigger and dipped down to meet his lips with hers. Her hooded eyes, so filled with self-confidence and power, closed as they lost themselves in the plummeting dive of their kiss. Billy stroked himself lazily as their tongues clashed against each other. The slurping sounds of their wet kisses was music to his hears. The heat of her mouth against his made him light-headed. His head tilted back as she pushed forward, completely dominating the kiss with hands planted firmly against him. Excited by her contact, Billy’s breathing became louder and faster. He could feel his own exhales against his face as it ricocheted from his nose off her cheek. His strokes sped up, his hand nearly hitting against her bare belly as he steadfastly chased the relief that he so craved with her.

Again, she was the first to pull away, using his chest to balance herself as she stood up. He jutted his chin forward and craned his neck in an effort to continue the juicy encounter, but she was in the better position for control. His hot skin cooled so harshly that it burned when her hands left his pecs.

She stood before him, almost half naked. The black lace bra that covered her breasts was just sheer enough to see the outlines of her hardened nipples. She tantalizingly chewed on the tip of her index finger and grinned when his eyes looked up from her perky breasts. Making the sexual tension in the room linger, she gradually dragged her finger from between her teeth, over her lip, under the curve of her chin, down the length of her slender neck, to the valley between her breasts. With a lustful stare, she cupped her breasts and gave them a squeeze. She pushed them together, accentuating the already full cleavage she possessed.

But, she didn’t stop there. Gradually, she traced a path downward with her hands, over her flat, pale abdomen and past the waistband of her denim skirt. Down, down, down, his eyes followed, growing wider when she grabbed the hem of her skirt and snaked her hands underneath it. With a shimmy of her hips, she retracted her hands from beneath the skirt, and with them, her matching black panties. She slid them down her legs, over her knees and let them drop to the floor. She stepped out of them and kicked them off to the side.

His heart pounded ferociously within his chest. His hand stilled. Eyes locked in a trance on the panties which lay in a small bundle on the floor. He raised his back from the bench and sat upright. When he had enough sense to look at her again, she bit her lip and bent her knees to be face to face with him.

“Then come get it,” she rasped with that same devilish smirk as before.

She stepped away from him and walked towards the entryway to the dining room. Fingers worked behind her back to undo the clasp of her bra. She didn’t bother turning her head to see if he was following before she stepped out of sight into the next room. There was no need to. Once his legs no longer felt like jelly, he knew he would follow. When the bra was tossed into the room where he was, it broke him from the hypnotized spell that had kept him motionless. _She’s naked._

Billy took in a shaky breath and stood from the bench, kicking off his own shorts that had been wrapped around his ankles. He felt weightless, like he was floating towards her— like their bodies were magnetized for each other. His erection twitched when he stepped inside the next room and saw Caroline bent over the dining room table; cheek and chest pressed flat to the hard, wooden surface and feet planted shoulder width apart. Waiting for him. As he neared, she reached her hands down and hoisted her skirt up over her bare bottom. He sizzled at the sight, finding it unbelievable that he could have grown any harder than he already was at that moment.

Her bare backside, so rounded and smooth, was visible to him for the first time. _Perfection._ She giggled and gave a little wiggle to entice him closer. Placing his hands on her hips, he pressed himself against her harshly, desperate for friction. She gasped at the sudden movement.

“Yeah, you like that?” Billy smirked, looking down at the fleshy rump.

He slid one hand to her lower back to hold her in place and slid the other hand down over the smooth skin of her right cheek. He rubbed his palm in circles over her and then delivered a swift spank. She yelped and jumped before trailing off into a nervous yet stimulated giggle while he squeezed the area of skin he had just smacked. _She never did answer the question_. He rubbed her again on the same cheek, palming rough circles as he geared up for another swat.

“I asked you a question.” His own confidence poured through his lips.

Again, her silence irked him to the point of drawing back and landing another blow, this time a little harder. Caroline jolted, but the hand on her back held her in place. She gasped and groaned but pushed her hips back into him, providing a nonverbal response that she wanted him. He removed his hand, refusing to sooth the sting until she said it. He wanted to hear it. The pale skin was already transforming into a brighter hue.

“Say it,” Billy egged.

Caroline whined, “Billyyyyy.”

He shuddered at the way his name vibrated off her lips.

 _Smack._ “Beg for it.” He grinned from ear to ear and sharply grunted as he ground his hips and erection against her posterior again. “I want to hear you say it, princess.”

Billy used the side of his foot to gruffly kick her feet further apart. She took the hint and shifted her feet, opening her legs more for him. He grasped his dick and slid it underneath Caroline, teasing her the same way she had teased him earlier. Caroline writhed against the table as he slid his dick along her slippery folds. Up and down, he teased. Removing the hand from her back and resting it on the table beside her quivering body, he leaned forward and pressed his chest against her back. Their breaths were in sync, chests rising and falling together. He released his dick and gently swept her long hair away from her ear and neck.

Nuzzling against her neck, he breathed in her fragrance. _Cherries and vanilla._ It was his favorite scent of hers. She was always lathering her skin with lotion after a shower. The aroma drove him mad. He kissed the edge of her jaw just below her earlobe and then nipped at the skin.

“Beg,” he growled the command with more conviction.

Her voice was weak and hungry. “Please, Billy.”

His hand caressed her shoulder, down her back, and to her ass again. He smiled at the whimper and way she squirmed against him when he grasped his erection again and lined it up with her wet slit. Regardless of what she would say subsequently, he was going to make his next move. He could not hold back any longer from experiencing himself in her. He stood straight and brought his other hand from the tabletop to firmly grip her hip.

Bracing herself by extending her arms forward, she gripped the opposite end of the table and moaned the words he wanted to hear most. “Fuck me.”

He almost came right then and there. His ears rang and his dick throbbed. With one effortless motion, he pushed himself inside of her roughly and didn’t stop until he could progress no further. Billy moaned loudly. Caroline cried out an erotic sob and sucked in air through her teeth, lifting one foot in the air as if she needed to try to escape. After the initial shock of him filling her must have abated, she put her foot back down on the floor. He watched her knuckles turn white as her fingers gripped the table more firmly. Her breathing became hard and heavy.

“Oh my God,” Caroline panted, “you’re so huge.”

Not wasting any time, he began to thrust his hips back and forth harshly, savoring the ease of moving in and out of her slickness so smoothly. The friction from her tight walls squeezed him so deliciously. Combined with the moans and squeals that he was forcing from her mouth with every shove forward, he knew he wouldn’t last long. As if the pressure was too much for her, Caroline seemed to try to pull herself away from him, grasping the table and kicking her legs out behind her whenever she found steady enough footing. This only encouraged Billy to dig his fingers into either hip and pull her against him as he thrust inside her again. Over and over and over. He was sure to leave his mark on her delicate skin. She would be sore later.

Their skin slapped against each other in a fast rhythm. Caroline cried out and seemed to bite her lips together, for her next sounds were more muffled. Like she didn’t want him to hear that she was actually enjoying herself. She grunted with every thrust. His breathing became more erratic as he felt the tip of his penis tingle within her and that familiar tightness tug harder at the base of his groin.

“Cum in me,” Caroline whispered. “Cum in me,” she repeated louder.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He moved one hand from her hip and brought it to her shoulder, gripping and pulling on her so that she lifted from the table just marginally. The change in position was enough to rub him at a different angle and send a bolt of electricity to his groin. He could visualize the fuse within him burning shorter and shorter as he neared completion. Caroline clenched around him with a lengthy scream.

His ears filled with the shrill buzzing pulses of his alarm clock. Without opening his eyes, he felt himself stroking his erection vigorously. The last few pumps did it. He arched forward and grunted under his breath as his warm ejaculate oozed down over his hand in two spurts. He held his breath as his abdominal muscles contracted when he came. When it was over, he loosened the grip he had on his penis and exhaled a sharp gust of air through his nose as he laid himself back flat with a grunt. He opened his eyes and found himself in his own bed, alone.

With his clean hand, he felt around his nightstand lazily for the alarm clock button to kill the dreadful sound that roused him from the best dream of his life. It took four tries, with each swat at the clock becoming more irritated. Finally, the alarm stopped, and he brought his arm back down to his bare chest, feeling the excited beats of his heart begin to slow.

He took several breaths and thought about the events of his dream. “Shit,” he sighed with a chuckle.

* * * * *

If there was a God, he was testing Billy. Tormenting was more like it.

Billy sat at the dining room table, mindlessly eating the pancakes that Caroline had gotten up early enough to start making for everyone before school. His fork was paused in front of his partially open mouth as he rolled the bite around on his tongue. He stared at the multi-colored rah-rah skirt she was wearing that rested several inches above her knees. _What are the odds?_

She was more modestly dressed this morning than she was in his dream. Hot pink leggings covered any skin below her skirt but failed to hide the shape of those thighs. The form fitting black blouse tucked into the waistband was too opaque to determine what kind of undergarments she was wearing. He wondered if they were just as dark and lacey as in his dream. Too enthralled by watching her ass move in the skirt as she sidestepped from sink to stovetop, he had not noticed that his partially masticated piece of pancake still lingered on his tongue.

“Max!” Caroline called out for her sister, who was still in her room getting ready for the day. “Come on, breakfast is ready!” She sounded a little peeved.

 _That ass._ He could see the slight curve of it beneath the ruffles of her skirt, but he wondered how close to reality his dream had made it. If it felt the same, if the color was just right— although, it didn’t really matter. He would make it bright red with his punishing smacks. He had seen her tits once before, but never her ass. The only time he had ever felt it was when he was angry and would hold her against him so he could move her or hold her still. These were very brief encounters. While he may have gotten hard during or after, he never got to touch her there sexually. He bet it felt like a piece of heaven.

 _“Do you want more,”_ he heard that provocative voice ask.

Images of her on her knees in front of him, mouth having just had his dick, flashed through his mind. He snapped back to reality when he realized that she was standing in front of him in her blouse and skirt. Eyebrows were arched in a questioning manner. A skillet and spatula were in her hands.

“Huh?” Billy asked, closing his mouth and swallowing the soggy bite of pancake that had been sitting on his tongue for God knows how long.

Caroline held the skillet out to show the golden pancake, fresh and warm, sitting inside. “Do you want more?” she repeated herself in a somewhat annoyed tone.

He may have heard the correct words, but he was certain she hadn’t said it as seductively the first time as he had heard it. Billy shifted in his chair and cupped his hand over the growing bulge in his pants to keep it hidden. He nodded his head _yes_ and leaned back for her to slide the pancake onto his plate. The deep, V-shaped cut of her neckline plunged far enough to display the top of her cleavage. _Oh, how she had squeezed them together._ He wondered what they felt like. They were at least C-cups, a good handful. _Two handfuls,_ he huffed as he thought.

She saw his eyes staring at her chest as the pancake slid to his plate. Looking down to see if perhaps she had gotten batter on her shirt, she noticed the attraction that had drawn him to stare. She cleared her throat and stood up, placing the spatula in the empty skillet and an irritated hand on her hip. His eyes looked up at her.

Rolling her eyes, she snapped. “Why don’t you take a picture, _pervert_? It’ll last longer.”

Unashamed, a grin spread across his face. He brought his thumbs and index fingers in front of his face in a box-like shape. He closed one eye and flicked his finger, made a _click_ sound with his tongue, and pretended to take a photograph with his imaginary camera. He winked at her afterward.

Embarrassed and uncomfortable, she decided to walk away from him. He raised his glass of orange juice to his lips.

“Max!” Caroline impatiently shouted. “ _Come and get it!”_

Billy sputtered and nearly choked on his drink at the choice of words. _It must be a sign._


	14. Chapter 14

“I’m going for a walk!” Caroline called out behind her as she slipped on a denim jacket and shut the front door a few minutes before four o’clock.

The whole reason she had worn the skirt and blouse to school today was so she would be able to wear something cute and feminine on her date with Steve without rousing too much suspicion from Billy. Although the air was still chilly— for it was November in Hawkins, Indiana— it actually didn’t feel too bad for taking a brisk walk. She was several yards away from the stop sign when she heard the whir of a motor approach her. Looking to her left, the car slowed, and the passenger window rolled down.

“Hey, stranger,” Steve leaned over and winked. “You goin’ my way?” 

“Hmm,” Caroline pretended to consider the pickup line. “I don’t know if I should accept rides from strangers.”

She continued to walk as the car slowly rolled alongside her.

Steve chuckled and glanced ahead before looking back at her. “Well, that’s a shame. Because I happen to know a place in Hawkins that has _the_ _best_ burgers and strawberry shakes.”

Caroline stopped walking and leaned into the open window of the car. “How are their chocolate shakes?”

Steve placed all his fingertips against the tip of his thumb and brought them to his mouth for an exaggerated peck. “To die for.”

“Well, that’s all that matters then,” she smiled and got into the car.

Steve ended up taking her to some rinky-dink diner within the main area of town, with promises that it was better than in looked. It was small, but at just slightly past four o’clock, it wasn’t very crowded. There were a few older gentlemen huddled along the corner of the long, dining counter, smoking cigarettes and eating their meals as they chatted. A few kids from school were at the booth nearest to the door— the perfect location for their later dine and dash. A few patrons were here and there that didn’t look twice when they walked in. Steve and Caroline settled into the far corner booth and waited for the waitress to approach.

As they slid onto the red leather benches, Steve grabbed two of the laminated menus that had been tucked into the silver prongs of the napkin caddy. They were slightly sticky. A Cyndi Lauper song played over the speakers. When Caroline recognized the song, she snorted and hid her face behind the menu that Steve had handed her.

Steve shot her a confused but entertained look and chuckled himself. “What?”

She peeked her eyes overtop of the menu. The residual smile was still visible in the outer corners of her eyes. Not wanting to shame or gossip about anyone, Caroline tried to be vague in her description.

“There’s this girl in one of my classes who sings, like, _all the time,”_ she pointed up to the speaker, “and this is one of the songs that she sings.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve chuckled. “Is she any good?”

Caroline burst out laughing again and placed the menu against her face. She shook her head and uttered, “Uh-uh.”

“Wait,” Steve sat up suddenly. “Are you talking about Tammy Thompson?”

Caroline hurriedly shushed him and looked around the diner to see if anyone else had heard the name. “You _know?”_ she whispered with wide eyes and a guilty smile.

“Oh my God,” Steve rolled his eyes and placed the menu flat on the table. Leaning closer over the table, he critiqued Tammy’s inability to carry a tune. “There’s no end to her singing. The other day she sang _Total Eclipse of the Heart,_ and once she was done, she started all over again. She sounds like a broken record of a Muppet.” Caroline snorted again, a genuine laugh. He lowered his chin and made a frog-like face as he mockingly croaked along with the song, _“The second hand unwinds.”_

Caroline laughingly shushed him and looked around, only somewhat embarrassed. This only encouraged Steve to be goofier.

He sat up straighter, and louder sang along with the music, “ _If you’re lost, you can look, and you will find me. Time after time.”_ Caroline looked past him to the older men at the opposite end of the diner, who have now turned their heads to see what was happening. _“If you fall, I will catch you, I’ll be waiting. Time after time._ Come on, you know the words. _”_

The group of teens at the table near the door were snickering and whispering to each other. Caroline decided, spur of the moment, to join him. If anyone would be made fun of for this act, they would go down in flames together. They looked into each other’s eyes with face-splitting smiles and flushed cheeks.

“ _If you’re lost, you can look, and you will find me. Time after time. If you fall, I will catch you—”_

Steve took the belting line and stood when he sang it. With clenched fists and closed eyes, he passionately warbled, “ _I will be waiting!”_

 _“Time after time,”_ they finished the verse together.

While the teens by the door had used that distraction to slip out unnoticed, the older men at the dining counter clapped and chuckled. Steve turned around and offered a silly bow and then sat back down. He and Caroline giggled at each other at the random burst of fun they just had. _Nancy would have been so embarrassed,_ he thought. They ordered their food. Each got a cheeseburger and fries. Steve ordered a strawberry shake while Caroline ordered the chocolate.

“Mmm, you were _so_ right,” Caroline said after taking a sip of the thick, cold treat. “This is killer.”

“Told ya,” Steve stuffed a French fry into his mouth and smiled at her. “Okay,” he scooted back in his seat and brushed his hands together. “Let’s play twenty questions.”

Caroline smiled at the clever way to get to know each other better. “Okay. You go first.”

It was his idea, but he suddenly drew a blank. Like every single question and all words that he once knew no longer existed. “Uhh,” he took another fry and held it in front of his lips. “What is your…” he looked around the diner for clues to help him find a question, “favorite food?”

She looked off to the side, a few quiet seconds of contemplation with a mouthful of burger. When she swallowed, she answered, “Pizza. With sausage and black olives.” It was her turn to ask a question. “Who is your celebrity crush?”

“Ooh,” Steve chuckled and narrowed his eyes at her. “Going straight into the personal stuff. A bold strategy.” She snickered at his response and recognized that he was being playful. “But, uh, I’d have to say Brooke Shields.”

Caroline nodded her head. “Fair choice.”

“Yeah?” Steve slurped at his melting strawberry shake. “Who’s yours?”

“Don Johnson.”

“Wow, no hesitation with that answer,” Steve teased as he leaned back. “Seems like I have competition.”

Caroline shrugged her shoulders innocently and grinned. “He has nice hair.”

Steve widened his eyes in pretend shock and offense. “Excuse me? What about _my_ hair?” He held his hands up near his coif for added affect and rolled his eyes upward.

Gnawing on a fry, Caroline jested, “Why do you think I said _yes_ to this date?”

They stared at each other for a few seconds before erupting into laughter. Steve was enjoying her sense of humor and willingness to ask and answer questions with him. His mind was hardly on Nancy at all. _Almost._

“Alright, you’re forgiven,” Steve smiled and then looked down shyly at his plate. The compliment to his hair and comparison to Don Johnson was enough to make him blush.

Over the course of their meal, they had learned a great deal about each other. They talked about favorite colors, favorite movies, favorite songs. Backstories were offered with some of the responses. Each answer provided a little more insight into what made them who they are.

They were getting close to finishing their meals. By this point, more people had strolled in for the dinnertime rush. They continued to drink their milkshakes as they conversed, learning more about each other and feeling a deeper connection than before.

“Okay, I’ve got a really random one for you, and I hope you don’t take offense to it,” Steve looked up at her with raised eyebrows.

“Ooh, sounds _juicy_. Go for it,” she encouraged him.

He leaned back against his seat and narrowed his eyes. “What’s the deal with your stepbrother?”

That was not the random question she was expecting. “What do you mean?”

Steve wanted to bring up the interaction from the previous day. Of Billy’s warning to stay away from Caroline. Their first week together in gym class had not been too difficult, but it seemed like once Billy found out who he was, and once he had spotted Caroline and him together, things changed. But, he needed to segue into it.

“Well,” he hesitated, trying to find the best words. “He’s a little—”

“Asshole,” Caroline immediately chimed in.

 _Not untrue._ Steve’s eyes shot at her face to read the expression, and he laughed when she grinned. “I was going to say _neurotic,_ but, yeah, _asshole_ works.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Billy’s a horse of a different color.” Shaking her head, she took another sip of her shake before she continued. “My parents divorced when I was thirteen. My mom met his dad, like, a year later. They married two summers ago. He’s been pissed off at the world for as long as I’ve known him.”

“Is he, like, really overprotective of you, or something?” Steve squinted and felt somewhat self-conscious even asking.

She looked confused. “What would give you _that_ impression?” Caroline’s tone was cynical.

He took in a deep breath and disclosed, “Oh, he had some words for me yesterday.”

Caroline’s eyes became as large as saucers. “You’re kidding me.” Steve shook his head to show that he was being serious. “What did he say?”

_If you think you’re going to get over your whore girlfriend by burying your dick in my stepsister’s pussy, you got another thing comin’… You stay away from her. Do you hear me?_

There was no need for her to hear the vulgarity of his statement. He paraphrased, “He told me to stay away from you.”

She clenched her jaw and felt her face turn three different shades of red. Billy was taking things too far, interfering too much. _Like he always did._

“That son of a bitch,” she murmured to herself. “Listen,” she looked at Steve, “Billy is an egotistical, power-hungry, good-for-nothing jerk. He doesn’t _care_ who I date, he just tries to have some sort of control over _everything._ It’s who he is. He gets in trouble all the time, and he wants everyone else around him to be just as miserable as he is.”

Steve had not seen an angry side of Caroline before. It surprised him to hear the words spew from her mouth like a volcano. She crossed her arms and pressed herself firmly back into the leather seat, looking out the window at the traffic passing by.

“So,” Steve began slowly, “do I need to worry about anything? Like, is he going to try to kick my ass if I see you again?”

Her eyes met his. His cheeks lifted with the playful smile he displayed. _He has no idea how serious Billy is._ If Billy said something to him, he was definitely serious. As a heart attack. It worried Caroline more, now that Billy had confronted Steve about their interest in one another. It was one thing for him to say something to her. They were in a different ballgame if he had said something to Steve.

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” she truthfully divulged, causing Steve’s smile to vanish. “There are three things that Billy likes to do—” She held her fingers up as she rattled off the list. “Lift weights, screw, and fight. He will look for _any_ reason to fight you. And he’s good, Steve. He knows how to get under people’s skin. He and I have gone rounds.”

This made Steve sit up straighter. “He’s _hit_ you?” he rumbled with shock and revulsion. _A lot more frequently within the last few months._

His nostrils flared and his pulse jumped. The thought of any man laying their hands on a woman in anger repulsed him. The opinion he had of Billy was already low, but this new information just took it and stomped it even further into the dirt. Had he known that fact, he would have spoken up that day in the showers. Maybe even took a swing at him.

“And your stepdad, what does he do about it?”

Caroline groaned. “He doesn’t know.”

Seeing the look on Steve’s face made her regret saying anything. She didn’t mean to share so much. Billy might not beat the tar out of her like he would a man, but he certainly had no problem with slapping her around. There would be even less of a problem in following through with beating Steve within an inch of his life. He would do it, too. Billy didn’t make threats that he could not or would not follow through on.

“It’s complicated,” sighed Caroline, almost defeated.

Steve huffed. Not at her. At the situation. He _hated_ Billy. He and Tommy were a perfect match.

“Enlighten me,” Steve calmly shrugged, wanting to know more.

She looked into his eyes, debating with herself on how much she should say. Neil was a big proponent of _family business stays family business._ It was nobody else’s concern to know about what happened if they weren’t there, if they weren’t involved. With her father still in California, though, maybe it would be nice to have a male ally. Steve was fit enough. He could probably do something to help her if push truly came to shove.

“Back in California,” she hesitated and licked her lips, “Billy got into a lot of trouble. I mean, he did a lot of typical teenage rebellious stuff, but Billy has no off switch. He doesn’t stop until he’s accomplished whatever he’s set out to accomplish.”

She could see the interest in Steve’s face, the stillness of his chest as he listened. Part of this felt wrong. It was Billy’s business. But, if they were going to continue sneaking around together, Steve needed to know what he was getting into.

“Long story short, Billy hurt a guy. Really bad. I’m talking broken arm, dislocated shoulder, knocked out teeth, busted ribs, punctured lung.”

“ _Jesus_ ,” Steve mumbled under his breath.

“It was bad,” she nodded and spoke in a hushed voice. “My stepdad was good friends with the D.A. Billy spent a few days in a juvenile detention center, got away almost scot-free.” _Well, from the law, at least._ She recalled that he was black and blue and walked with a limp for several weeks after that incident, once Neil got his hands on him.

“So,” Steve quietly began, “what was this all over? Why’d it happen?”

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. “They claimed it was some petty school-yard talk that happened to spill over into the street when they spotted each other after school one day. I don’t know, though. They were pretty hush-hush about it, as much as they could be.”

“Has he ever…” Steve’s hands reflexively clenched into fists.

Caroline shook her head. “He’s slapped me a few times. Pushes me and Max around. He breaks a lot of stuff— possessions. I don’t think it would ever escalate to _that_ point between us. He wouldn’t be able to hide it from his dad. At home, he does whatever he knows he can get away with.”

“So, why don’t you tell your stepdad?”

She sighed again. The family dynamics in the Mayfield-Hargrove household were so incredibly dysfunctional and messed up. She felt embarrassed by it. Having grown up mostly with Mom and Dad, she knew what a real household was supposed to look like. There wasn’t supposed to be screaming, and hitting, and breaking things. Fists weren’t supposed to fly between parent and child. Belts were supposed to be used to hold up your pants, not to lash your back.

“Neil is…” she swallowed, trying to think of the right words to use. “Neil’s an ex-military man. He’s scary in his own right.”

She decided to leave it at that. She crossed her arms and tightly held onto herself, feeling exposed. What had started out as a really fun date seemed to turn sour. _Fucking Billy._

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” Steve sincerely expressed his regret, seeing how much of an impact this subject had on her mood.

“No, it’s important that you know,” Caroline looked at him again. “This is why you can’t be at my house. This is why we’ll have to sneak around for a little bit. At least until things cool off.” _Until Mom and Neil get back, and Neil can somewhat tighten the reigns back up on Billy._

Steve gave a small smile and reached his hand across the table, holding it open for her. She returned the smile and placed her hand in his. Delicately, he wrapped his fingers around her hand and rubbed his thumb over her smooth skin.

“I can do that,” he assured her.

They would really have to be careful until Neil got back. She had little doubt that Neil would be okay with the relationship. Steve was a standup guy. He was sweet, he was polite, he was funny… hell, he was willing to kiss Neil’s ass and apologize for something that wasn’t even his fault. Once Neil would be on her side with this, she could breathe a little better.

 _“No fuckin’ way,”_ a male voice loudly hooted. _“Is that you, Harrington?”_

Caroline looked up at the doorway as Steve turned around at the mentioning of his name. Standing at the entrance to the diner was Tommy Hagan and two other boys from school. Tommy laughed obnoxiously loud and clapped his hands when he saw Steve’s face. Caroline’s heart jumped into her throat. She tried to swallow the lump. The boys started making their way over to their table. Steve slid his hand away from hers.

“I thought that was you. I’d recognize that Farrah Fawcett hair anywhere,” Tommy harassed, drawing some attention from other diners as he and the other boys walked to the corner booth. Tommy grinned like a Cheshire cat once he reached the table. He placed his hands on either ledge of the white surface and leaned down, grinning at Steve before switching his gaze to Caroline. “And with _Caroline Mayfield_ , my my my,” he shook his head and looked back at Steve, “you _do_ get around.”

Without asking for permission, Tommy moved to sit down beside Caroline. His smooth and fast movements led her to reluctantly slide closer to the window. Her shoulders scrunched inward, making herself impossibly small, as Tommy sat too close for comfort, allowing one of the other boys on the bench along with him while the other sat on the bench with Steve. Tommy threw his arm behind Caroline and rested it on the back of the bench. She was at least grateful that he did not put it around her. She turned her nose up and away. He smelled like marijuana.

Much like his repugnant girlfriend, Caroline disliked Tommy. He had been out to the house once during their first week of school. She had suspected that he and Billy had taken _something_ because he was amped for the rest of the night. He had made a pass at her when Billy went to the bathroom. His response when Caroline reminded him that he had a girlfriend was a smarmy _‘I won’t tell if you won’t.’_ Between both of their wandering eyes, they were perfect for each other. Billy sure did have great taste in friends. Cut right from the same damn cloth.

“What are you two kids up to, huh?” Those stupid eyes disappeared behind his freckled cheeks with his large smile. He looked at Caroline and nudged her knee with his own, chuckling when she recoiled from him.

“We were just finishing up,” Steve tersely replied. Looking at Caroline with apologetic eyes, he urged her, “Let’s go, Caroline.”

As Steve went to stand up, Tommy motioned him to sit back down with a “Woah, woah, woah.” The larger boy beside Steve placed his hand on Steve’s shoulder and pushed him back down onto the seat.

Caroline’s eyes widened, unsure of what was happening.

“Looks like you two are on a little _date_ ,” Tommy said as he plucked a fry from Caroline’s plate and ate it. “You move just as fast as Wheeler. Speaking of,” Tommy took a sip from Caroline’s shake. He slid his arm from the back of the bench to around Caroline’s shoulders when he placed the near-empty glass back on the table. His hand grasped her shoulder and he gently shook her as he spoke. “Did you know, that when he and Nancy dated, he spray painted a movie theater marquee—”

“Tommy—”

“The whole town saw it. In big, red letters,” Tommy slowly waved his hand out in front of him as if the marquee were right there, “ _All the Right Moves_ starring Nancy _the Slut_ Wheeler. Your boy did that.”

Tommy laughed as Caroline’s eyes shot up to meet Steve’s. He looked away in embarrassment and shame, shaking his head. The other boys snickered and made some comments back and forth about Nancy and Johnathan Byers running off together. She didn’t know what to say. She felt terribly uncomfortable being sandwiched between the window and Tommy. His disgusting hand was still on her shoulder, offering firm pinches as he spoke.

Tommy leaned in closer to her and lightly spoke, “I know how much value you place on relationships. I just thought you ought to know.”

When Caroline didn’t reply, Tommy looked back at Steve. He had that same look on his face as he did the other day after gym class. _Defeated._ _Pitiful. Pathetic._ Tommy grinned and snatched another fry from Caroline’s plate.

“We’ll let you kids get back to your _date,_ ” teased Tommy. With a wink, he looked at the quiet brunette beside him and said, “See ya around, Caroline.”

The boys got up from the table. The one that had been sitting beside Steve ruffled his hair when he stood up to walk away. They laughed and settled into a booth further down the diner. Luckily, they would not have to walk past them when they exited.

Steve could not bare to make eye contact with Caroline. Not only was he mortified about Caroline finding out about the spray-painting incident, he hadn’t done a Goddamn thing to defend himself. Or to stand up for her. He didn’t tell Tommy to take his hand off of her. He didn’t tell them to get bent. Just like as he had with Nancy during their relationship, he let Caroline down. His breathing was short and shallow as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet.

Sensing his discomfort, Caroline softly checked in with him, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he answered a little too snappily as he slammed some bills on the table to cover the cost of their meal. Finally looking up at her, he asked, “You wanna get out of here?”

Caroline nodded her head, and the two of them made their way to the exit while Tommy and the other boys loudly made kissing noises and crass comments as they left the diner.

* * * * *

About an hour and a half after he had picked her up for their date, Steve parked the car along the curb about fifteen feet back from the intersection. There had been some tension on the ride back. Not because of anything they had said or done on their date, but each was either embarrassed or worried about one thing or another.

“I had a nice time,” Caroline broke the silence, hoping that Steve would cheer up.

“You don’t have to do that,” Steve looked at the steering wheel and shook his head.

“Do what?”

Reservedly, he replied, “Lie.”

It was one thing to hear it from Billy. It was a completely different thing to hear it from Steve. Her heart sank. She was not sure if it was because he accused her of lying or if he thought she was trying to placate his obviously wounded ego.

“I’m not,” Caroline calmly assured him, placing her hand on his knee. He looked down at it. “I definitely was not expecting that _ending_ , but—”

Steve chuckled. He hadn’t been expecting it either— the disruption from Tommy. He placed his hand on hers and looked at her with sad, guilty eyes.

“Look, that stuff Tommy said back there about Nancy—” he started to explain.

Caroline interrupted him. “I’m not worried about it.” Sure, she was interested to know what the full story was, but that could be saved for another day, another time.

Steve swallowed nervously. He admitted, “I was a really shitty boyfriend,” before going completely quiet.

He thought of how he treated Nancy. How he had embarrassed her. Not just in front of the student body, but for all of Hawkins to see. He had jumped to conclusions, and he had no one but himself to blame for how things had ended between them. He practically pushed her into Byers’ arms with how he behaved. If he had just listened. If he had been more attentive to her. If he had treated her with respect… like a decent human being… none of this would have happened.

Caroline sensed that this sadness that overtook him was not just merely embarrassment and shame over her finding out. She sensed that it had more to do with Steve’s feelings towards Nancy than it did with Caroline’s impression of him.

Caroline raised her hand to his cheek and gently turned his face so that he would look at her. He did. Those dark brown eyes that had sparkled so brightly yesterday now seemed so dull. The infectious smile he usually wore was turned downward into a frown. She leaned over the center console to kiss him. He shifted over to meet her halfway. There was something different about this kiss. It didn’t feel as passionate, to either of them.

When Caroline pulled away, Steve protested, “Nancy…”

“ _Nancy?”_ Caroline sadly asked.

His cheeks flushed and his pupils dilated at the mistake. “I didn’t… I mean, Caroline.”

“Steve,” Caroline cooed, almost telling him to _shut up_ and _get real._ “Are you still in love with her?”

 _I think I am,_ he thought to himself. Caroline was a pretty face and a nice person, but she wasn’t Nancy. He hesitated, not wanting to hurt her feelings but respecting her enough to not want to lie to her either.

Caroline offered a soft, almost sympathetic smile. Reading his facial expressions, she didn’t need a verbal response from him to be able to tell what he was thinking. “Does she know?”

He shrugged his shoulders. _She has to know._ They had only been broken up for two days. It was still so fresh.

“I screwed up really bad.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, so he looked out the windshield.

“Well,” Caroline thought for a second. “Get her some flowers or something.” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with her crush. She was actually working on helping him get back together with his ex-girlfriend. _What is wrong with me._ “Show up at her door unannounced with them. Girls love that kind of stuff.”

Steve huffed a short little laugh through his nose. The irony of the conversation had hit him, as well. He finally turned to look at her. He didn’t deserve Nancy. He definitely didn’t deserve someone as selfless as Caroline. She gave him a small, warm smile when he looked at her.

His throat felt dry. It crackled as he told her, “I’m really sorry.”

No other explanation was needed. Caroline understood.

“That’s really good, Steve,” she nodded her head and leaned forward to give him one final peck on the lips. He blushed. “Now work on telling _her_ that.” He was caught off guard by the statement, but she was right. She reached for the handle and opened her door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said in a friendly tone.

Caroline stepped out of the car and stopped herself from closing the door when she heard Steve quickly say, “Hey!” She opened the door again slightly and bent over to peek inside at Steve. “You’re amazing. You know that?” Steve told her.

She playfully rolled her eyes, because if she didn’t she knew she would cry. “Yeah, yeah,” she scoffed with a smirk.

She closed the door and turned around to walk towards her house down the street. Steve sat in the car for a few seconds and watched her walk away. Unlike their other encounters, this time she didn’t turn to look at him. Caroline hugged herself tight. It was chilly, but really she just needed the comfort. She needed to pull herself together. Her house wasn’t far. If she started crying now, her face would be red and puffy, and someone would be bound to ask what was wrong. She couldn’t give herself away like that.

Steve hung his head when she didn’t look back at him after a few paces. He didn’t know why he let it bother him so much, seeing as how he still obviously had feelings for Nancy. He figured it was probably because he felt like the biggest asshole in the world. He shifted the car into the correct gear and gently pulled away from the curb. He had a lot of things to consider tonight.

* * * * *

Billy had kept to himself in his bedroom with loud rock music blasting to fill the time. He had periodically been looking out his bedroom window for the past hour and a half for Caroline’s return. In that time, he had smoked four cigarettes. Now, he was on his fifth. Luck was on his side this last time he pulled the curtain back to check. The BMW had returned and was parked behind the stop sign up the street.

The distance and glare from the window were too much to be able to see who was inside or what they were doing, but he recognized the car from earlier. The one from the school lot. The one he had seen yesterday. The one he had seen Caroline get into when she went on her so-called walk earlier. _Harrington’s car._

He brought the cigarette to his lips and took a long, slow drag. His patience was dwindling. He caught himself tapping his foot on the floor as he waited for Caroline to emerge from the car. _They’ve been sitting there for five minutes. What the **fuck**_ _are they doing?_ He knew all too well what a guy and a girl could accomplish with five minutes alone. The thought of her doing that with Harrington made his blood boil.

Finally, she exited the car. His heart pounded when he saw her. _She is fucking in for it._ None of his other tactics were sinking in, so he would obviously have to do something else. _Maybe I’ll have to pay Harrington a visit. Follow him after school tomorrow. Smash his face in in the parking lot. Run him off the road and drag him, limp and bloody, from his car._ He had to shake the thoughts from his head. Tonight, he would deal with Caroline. Tomorrow, Harrington. She started to walk away from the car towards the house.

“Max!” Billy shouted as he let the curtain fall back into place over the window.

He turned off his boombox and checked himself in the mirror, pulling a curl down over his eye and watching it spring back into place. He opened his closet and pulled his brown bomber jacket from his closet, slipping it on with haste.

“Max!” he shouted louder, with more irritation.

A few seconds later, Max opened his door. With an aggravated tone, she snapped, “What?”

He didn’t bother to look at her. He just fixed the sleeves of his jacket and grumbled, “Get your shoes on. I’ll take you to the arcade.”

Taken by surprise at his willingness to offer a trip to the arcade on his own, Max narrowed her eyes and questioned more calmly, “What?” _Surely he didn’t say what I think he just said._

Billy rolled his eyes and barked, “What, am I speaking Russian? I said put your fucking shoes on, I’m taking you to the arcade.” Knowing that she would not turn down the offer, he threw in, “Unless you want to stay here all night.”

Max shook her head and acknowledged his offer, running off to get her shoes and her jacket. Billy looked at himself in the mirror, taking one final drag of his cigarette before smashing it into his ashtray. He lifted his chin high up and blew out the smoke, never taking his eyes off himself in the mirror. He smiled and winked at himself.

* * * * *

Caroline was walking towards the Camaro when Max suddenly came running out of the house. Billy followed her at a more relaxed pace. He swung his keychain around in his fingers.

“Hey,” Caroline called out. Hearing the jingle of his keys she asked, “Where are you two going?”

Max chipperly responded, “Billy’s taking me to the arcade.”

“Oh,” Caroline sounded surprised, because indeed she was. “That’s nice.”

Billy wordlessly unlocked the passenger side door for Max to get in.

“Did you guys eat yet?” Caroline asked, ready to have an elaborate backstory and plan.

“Ordered pizza,” Billy shortly responded, as he walked over to his side of the car. When he reached his door, Caroline was finally standing next to the car. He looked her up and down, still wearing the nice skirt, blouse, and jean jacket from earlier. Nothing seemed to be out of place, but it certainly didn’t look like an outfit for walking. “Enjoy your _walk?_ ”

“Uh,” Caroline stammered, “yeah. I’m probably gonna go inside and take a shower though. I feel kinda sweaty. I’ll see you guys in a little bit, yeah?”

Billy smirked and nodded his head, knowing that she was lying. He watched her for a few seconds as she walked towards the house. He smacked his lips and then slumped into the driver seat of his car, slamming the door because it was the only thing he could do at that moment. He turned the key in the ignition and then sat for a few seconds longer. Staring out the windshield, he thought of what he would do once he returned. Maybe it was the move… being in a new place maybe made her feel like things would change… that things have changed. She was becoming braver with her disobedience. And that just would not be tolerated.

Max, growing uncomfortable with every passing second that she was in the car with Billy, questioned his hesitation with driving. “What’s wrong?”

He turned and looked at her then glanced up the house. The door was shut, and he imagined if he timed it just right that he could probably get back in time as Caroline was stepping out of the shower.

He let out a low chuckle. “Nothing.”

_She knows what happens when she lies._


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Graphic rape, multiple uses of the word "faggot."

Heart heavy, eyes fatigued by tears that threatened to overflow, Caroline closed her door and slid her curtains shut. She undressed hastily and slipped her terrycloth robe on. She twisted and clipped her hair into a messy bun, just to keep it from getting soaked. She grabbed a fresh pair of underwear, sleeping shorts, and a tee shirt to take into the bathroom with her.

As she showered, she thought about Steve. _It was too good to be true._ Being in high school yet, she could not expect that there would be a knight in shining armor to whisk her away from here. But, having someone to spend her days with would have been nice. It was better that it all came out now rather than a week from now, or a month from now. Before she _really_ had time to get invested in him. At least this would probably get Billy off her back. There would be no second date. No flirting back and forth. Steve was charming; Nancy would have to take him back. What might be the most difficult for her would be facing him tomorrow in school, acting as if everything was okay and that she was fine with what happened.

Stepping out of the shower, she sighed heavily and closed her eyes as the cool air instantly chilled her dewy skin. She patted herself dry and then used the towel to wipe the fog away from the mirror. She looked at herself for a moment. She was just a shell of the person she was before. Her tan was fading, starting to lighten to the same shade as her belly. The corners of her mouth drooped downward into a frown. She smiled at herself, only to be disappointed at how fake it was. She frowned once more.

Her eyes shifted to the purple and yellow bruise on her left arm. The exact size of Billy’s fingerprints. She lazily dragged her fingers over it, no longer tender to the touch. She couldn’t recall the last time she didn’t have a bruise somewhere on her body. A constant reminder of consequences for her disobedience to her “older stepbrother,” a person only four months older than she.

Not wanting to see herself anymore, she stepped into her white cotton underwear. As she pulled them up over her backside, she heard the muffled jingle of the telephone ringing. _Steve!_ Not bothering with her pajamas, she rushed to slip her arms into the soft terrycloth robe and tied the sash into a bow around her waist. She practically ripped the bathroom door from its hinges when she swung it open, dashing across the house to get to the phone before it stopped ringing.

Excited at the prospect of Steve declaring his mistake and love for her, she was out of breath when she zealously answered, “Hello?!”

“Caroline?” a meek female voice chirped. “It’s Mom.”

“Oh,” she tried to hide her disappointment but failed. She walked across the room and pulled a chair out from the dinner table and sat down. “Hi, Mom.”

“Is everything alright? You sound… upset.” Mom knew that living with Billy could be difficult. She just didn’t know _how_ difficult it was when she and Neil weren’t home.

“No, I mean, yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. Physically, in this moment, she was fine. Mentally, she was a big old mess. “Just got out of the shower and tried to get to the phone before it stopped ringing, is all.”

“A shower, so early?”

“Yeah, I went for a big walk around the neighborhood. Worked up a sweat.” _Another lie._

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Where are Max and Billy?”

“Uh, he took Max to the arcade.”

“Oh,” Susan sounded pleasantly surprised. “Isn’t that lovely?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Caroline sighed. She hated being around Billy. Could she just have one conversation where his name _wasn’t_ mentioned? “How are things at Aunt Jeanie’s?”

At that minute, the front door opened and slammed, alerting Caroline that Billy was back from dropping off Max. His bootsteps thumped an ominous sounding beat on the floor as he made his way towards the back of the house where she was. The sound was enough to distract her from hearing anything that her mother was talking about. She stood up, feeling too vulnerable with his height when she sat.

When he reached the entryway to the dining room, his eyes dropped at the sight of her in her bathrobe. He made no effort to hide his gawking as he scanned her from head to toe and back up again. She reactively clasped the front of her robe together firmly within her hand, ensuring that no cleavage would be visible to him.

Slowly, he made his way over to the phone receiver hanging on the wall, never removing his eyes from her. He unzipped his jacket and took it off, tossing it to the corner of the room. His large fingers tangled themselves within the stretched, beige cord that led to the handset Caroline was holding. He leaned against the wall and leisurely began to reel her towards him by tugging on the cord, hand over hand.

“—Actually, Mom,” Caroline interrupted, hoping that the announcement of who was on the phone would be enough for Billy to stop what he was doing. “Billy just walked in. Did you want to talk to him?”

Billy smirked and shook his head _no._ It was uncertain to Caroline whether that meant he didn’t want to talk to Susan, or that he knew Susan would not want to speak with him. Regardless, her plan did not work. He continued to pull the cord, forcing Caroline to gradually walk towards him as she continued her phone call.

She was halfway to him when her mother said, “Well, I just wanted to check in with you three, make sure the house was still standing. We will still be a few days. I’ll call you again in a few days. Alright, sweetie?”

Caroline so desperately wanted to say something about Billy. But, with two thousand miles between them and their parents, there would be no force strong or fast enough to rescue her from _that_ scenario. There was dead air between her and her mother. She hadn’t noticed that Susan had stopped talking and was waiting for a response. All she saw was the fire in Billy’s eyes as he continued to close the distance between them. The scent of his cologne and last cigarette filled her nostrils. _Three feet… two feet… one foot…_

“Honey?” Susan checked to see if they had been disconnected.

“Yeah,” Caroline snapped out of it long enough to answer. “Sounds great.”

She reached Billy. There was no more cord to pull. The fiendish smirk on his lips never faltered; it grew larger when their eyes met and he could see the fear in them. Holding the cord with one hand, he raised his other hand towards the switch hook.

Recognizing that her time was up, Caroline hurriedly said, “Talk-to-you-later-Mom-love-you-bye,” as if it were all one word.

Just in time. Billy pressed his fingers down on the hook, ending the call whether she was ready for it or not. As she was lowering the handset from her ear, Billy softly took it from her grasp and placed it on the hook. The fire in his eyes meant one thing— rage. His movements were eerily calm and steady, though. They didn’t match his eyes.

“Come here,” Billy walked past her, gently clasping her wrist, “I want to show you something.” He started to lead her away.

She gulped. “Okay,” she agreed. She tried to pull away from him, just as gently as he had grabbed her so it would not look like she was fighting him. But, he noticed, and his grip tightened more. “I just have to get dressed first,” she tried to reason calmly, still clutching the chest of her robe.

Billy kept walking them towards his room, turning his head to smile at her. “This will only take a minute.”

There was no masking the shaky breaths she exhaled. Perhaps she misread his eyes. He was calm. His grip was firm, but not overbearingly so. His speech was even and mild-mannered. He didn’t yell at her or smack her when she lightly protested. She would go along with it, look at whatever it was he wanted to show her, then hide away in her bedroom for the rest of the night.

He led her to his window that overlooked the side yard. The sun was setting, but there was still enough daylight to be able to make out shapes and objects nearby. He stepped out of her way and pressed his hand between her shoulder blades, encouraging her to step forward up to the window. He pushed one of the curtains off to the side so she could see the yard. Once that was done, he stepped behind her and placed his hands on either shoulder, pushing her forward just a bit more.

Leaning forward, he nearly nuzzled into her hair. A few damp strands clung to the back of her neck like static. But he refrained. He tilted his head so he could see past her and spoke behind her ear.

“Do you see it?” his voice was smooth and deep.

Caroline swallowed. She looked around the yard. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“What am I looking for?” she shrugged.

Billy looked at the side of her face and scanned down to her neck. “I don’t think you’re looking out far enough.”

Caroline did her best to look beyond the yard, but she didn’t have a clue as to what she should be seeing. Other houses? A car in someone’s driveway? Leftover Halloween decorations? A partially dead maple tree? A stop sign? A…

He grinned when he saw the pulse in her neck twitch and her skin flush a brighter shade of red. Her body, already still, became rigid, and her breathing stopped. “Ahh,” he sighed, sliding his hands from her shoulders down the length of her arms to her elbows, “you found it.”

She had not misread his eyes. Rage was there, alright. And as soon as she saw the intersection where Steve had picked her up, she knew that Billy must have seen it, too. It was naïve of her to think that it was beyond Billy to sit and watch out his window until she would disappear from sight, just waiting for the opportunity to call her a liar so that he could have this moment.

“I think,” he let his hands fall from her as he walked to the boombox and removed his belt, “you wanted me to find out.”

He pressed the _play_ button, and Metallica filled the room. Music was a clever distraction he utilized when he planned on inflicting pain. The screams from shredding guitars were usually enough to cover her own wails.

While his back was turned, Caroline used this opportunity to run from his room. He yelled after her. It was a thoughtless move. None of the bedrooms in the house had locks on the doors. She didn’t know what she was going to do once she got to her room. Her body mass wasn’t enough to effectively barricade a door from Billy’s terror. As she flew into her room and swung the door behind her, she planted her feet firmly on the floor and pressed her back hard against the door. There wasn’t enough space or time between her and Billy for her door to even latch.

Half his body was through the opening as she struggled against his strength to seek shelter. She screamed at him to go away while he screamed vulgar names and demands for her to move and let him in. He knocked his shoulder against the door. She felt her bare feet slipping against the floor as he forced a larger opening little by little, until he finally won the battle.

Caroline ran to the other side of the room as her door banged and rattled against the wall. He stepped inside, face red with anger, hand clutching his folded belt. He ran his hand threw his hair, pushing his stray curls out of his face. In one, lightning-fast maneuver, he slammed her door shut. He wiggled his fingers at his side, balling them into a fist and then stretching them out again. The items on her dresser were the first to go. He threw his body at the dresser and swiped his arm violently across the surface, sending her bottles of lotions and perfumes and makeup products flying across the room. She squealed and jumped as a few of the items threatened to hit her shins and feet. Then, he dropped the belt and wrapped his hands around the record player, lifting it above his head and slamming it to the floor.

As it crashed to the floor, Caroline again attempted to make her escape by running behind Billy. But, he caught her wrist and whipped her back around so that she was standing in front of him. He tightly wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place. She pushed her hands against his chest, yelling at him to let her go. Her robe had loosened, and her cleavage was visible as she shifted and squirmed against him in a failed attempt to escape.

“You know,” he raised his voice, “I think I’ve been too easy on you.” His hand flew up and grasped the clip from her hair, forcefully pulling it and some hair away from her scalp, eliciting a pained scream from her. “I think you keep wanting to test my limits—” She yelped as he regripped her hair in his curled fingers “—because I can’t think of any other reason that you would keep sneaking behind my back to meet up with that _faggot_ Harrington. Tell me I’m wrong.” He loosened his grip but did not let go of her hair. He brought his face directly in front of hers. “Go ahead. Tell me you weren’t with that faggot.”

If looks could kill, Billy would be six feet under. Caroline’s facial expression was a mix of pain and pure, unadulterated, seething, scathing hatred. No matter what she would or would not say, she knew she would end up with bruises by morning. She knew that belt was meant for her. He tugged on her hair to egg her to respond, and smirked that malicious grin that he did when he knows he has the upper hand. His eyes wandered down to her trembling lips. She was about to get the beating of a lifetime.

“You know,” her voice was wobbly and light, “all this obsessive shit with Steve… I’m beginning to think _you’re_ the faggot.”

His eyes darted back to hers as he curled his fingers even tighter. The hand around her waist dug into her sharply. “The _fuck_ did you just say to me?” he spat at her.

“I said,” her voice got louder with every word that followed, “I think you’re. The. _Fucking_. _FAGGOT!”_

Billy bellowed obscenities and released her just long enough to backhand her as hard as he could with his left hand. The blow was so powerful that it knocked her onto her bed. In a flash, he was on top of her, straddling his thighs over hers to pin her down. Caroline hardly had any time to think or register what was happening. She tried to kick her legs, but his weight was too much. She slapped and scratched at his face while he grabbed at her wrists, eventually capturing each of them and pinning them beside her head before she was able to inflict any damage.

“You think I’m a fucking faggot, huh?!” he yelled at her, droplets of spit hitting her face as they flew from his enraged lips.

He looked down at the exposed skin between her breasts where her robe had come undone in the scuffle. Her chest heaved up and down as she sobbed and wiggled. Removing his hands from her wrists, he pawed at the opening of her robe and pulled the end of the sash to undo the bow that she had tied there earlier.

“No!” Caroline protested, trying to pull her robe closed again, but his hands returned to her wrists like vice grips.

Billy moaned as he pulled her wrists away from her chest and held them out to her side, like she was nailed to the cross. The breasts that he had only seen for a fraction of a second were now fully displayed directly in front of him. Their rounded shape, so perfect and inviting. His pants felt tighter.

“Oh,” he shuddered, “sweet, sweet Care-o- _line!_ ” he grinned crookedly and exclaimed with joy. “Oh, you’ve been holding out on me.”

She slammed her eyes shut and turned her head to the side as she whimpered, hoping that if she clicked her heels together three times that she would wake up and this would all be just a terrible dream. Her skin blushed beneath him, and her entire body trembled. Billy lowered himself to flick one of her nipples with his tongue, glancing up at her face to see her reaction. He again moaned as he took her nipple in his mouth and sucked harshly. He moved his mouth all over her breast and then switched sides. She cried out and attempted to raise her hips to buck him off, but he was too solid of a force to move. He, instead, met her thrust with his own, grinding his clothed erection over her pelvis as he bit down on her soft flesh.

“Stop!” Caroline shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Stop! Help me! Help!”

Billy sat up on top of her and arched his neck back, boisterously yelling “Help!” Looking back down at her quivering form, he shook his head and said, “Noise comes from this house all the time, princess. Nobody’s gonna come for you.” He chuckled a deep, sinister laugh. “Well, _I will.”_

Billy dipped down and nibbled at the skin between her neck and shoulder while she struggled the get her wrists out of his grasp. He looked down at her waist and saw the loose fabric belt from her robe. Releasing one of her wrists, he grabbed the sash and pulled it roughly, retrieving it from beneath her and ripping the belt loop that it had been threaded through on her robe.

“Gimme your hands,” he rushed, grabbing her hands together and looping the terrycloth belt around her wrists.

Caroline struggled against him and fought to keep her wrists apart, but his bruising grip was too painful to match. “Please, Billy, stop,” she bawled. “Don’t do this, please.”

He finished tying a tight knot in the fabric and held her imprisoned wrists in one hand above her head while his other hand traced along the curves of her body, starting with her jaw. He pressed his chest against hers, feeling her erect nipples through his tee-shirt. He nudged her head to the side to allow him better access to her neck, suckling the skin sloppily and hard until a bright purple mark appeared and she sniveled another weak _“please.”_

He nibbled her earlobe and then directly whispered into her ear. “Beg me.”

Her face felt hot from the tears, embarrassment, and fear. Without question or argument, she did as he said. “Please, Billy, please don’t do this. I’m sorry. Please, don’t hurt me. Please—”

He ran his hand down her jaw to her breast as she pleaded for him to stop what he was doing. He squeezed her fleshy mound hard as if he were kneading dough. This caused her to jerk, a reactive movement to try and push him off of her. He chuckled at her weakness, continuing to glide his rough hand down her side until he reached his own legs over top of hers. He wanted to touch her more, but his own body was in the way.

“Open your legs,” he barked, lifting his leg and shoving his knee between her thighs, forcing her to open her legs just wide enough to accommodate his leg.

His hand trailed down her free thigh and cupped under her knee as she continued to beg. He forced her to raise her leg and hook it over his hip. With this new position, he slowly began to grind himself against her, desperate for friction to alleviate the massive hard-on in his pants. At some point, he wasn’t sure when, she stopped begging and replaced it with sobbing.

This was the most control he had ever had over her, and he wanted more. He stilled briefly and examined her. How her breasts jiggled with every sob, the way she stretched her neck in a feeble attempt to move her head and face away from him as he kissed and nipped at her throat. Her lips quivered, but they were still the most luscious shade of pink he had ever seen.

“Kiss me,” he whispered, aiming to place a kiss on her mouth but succeeding only in kissing the corner when she moved her head. He brought his hand down from her wrists and nudged her face to look at him. “Kiss me,” he repeated.

As he placed his lips on hers and jutted his tongue out, she squinted her eyes and frowned against his mouth, keeping her cries inside.

“Hey,” he slapped her cheek, dissatisfied, “like you mean it.”

Again, he tried to kiss her. This time, she parted her lips and granted his tongue access to her mouth when he poked and prodded. She closed her eyes tightly and kissed him back, hoping that this would be part of the begging that he wanted that would lead to her release. His stubble scratched uncomfortably against her cheeks and around her mouth. He tasted like stale cigarette smoke. During their kiss, he continued to rut his pelvis against her at a slow speed.

She felt like she was running out of air. His face pressed so roughly against her own that even breathing through her nose was laborious. The entire left side of her face throbbed. She tried to close her mouth again and turn her head to the side to break from the kiss, but he didn’t seem to mind. He continued his kisses in a hot, sloppy trail down the front of her neck to her chest again. The hand that had been holding her leg over his hip released her, and his fingers tugged along the elastic waistband of her panties.

When she gasped and choked at the action, he paused and propped himself up on his forearm, looking all over her body. His breathing was jagged. The fiery rage that had been blazing in his blue eyes was replaced with lust and desire.

“Harrington wouldn’t even know what to do with you,” he rasped matter-of-factly while he brought his other leg between her thighs so that he was completely between her legs.

He tugged at the band of her panties, and she tried with all her might to bring her thighs together, despite him intruding between them. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his pocketknife, slowly unfolding the blade from its protective sheath. Her eyes enlarged and she brought her tied hands down in front of her, grasping at his shirt with repeated pleas to not hurt her.

“Please,” Caroline cried and finally looked at his face. He was soulless. His tongue slithered out of his mouth to wet his lower lip and he looked at her through hooded eyes. “Please, Billy, I begged you. I’m _begging_ you. Please stop.”

“I told you to beg,” he simply said as he slid the blade beneath the fabric that clung to her hip. “I didn’t say I would stop.” Billy looked directly in her eyes as he cut through the fabric in one solid jerk.

Her eyes widened again as she thrashed violently beneath him, screaming at the top of her lungs and hitting her hands against his abdomen as hard as she could. He quickly returned the knife to his pocket and removed his shirt before unbuttoning his jeans. Caroline’s voice was becoming hoarse as her screams scratched and clawed her throat raw on their way out.

“Get off!” she demanded.

After fumbling between her legs, Billy pushed her hands back up above her head and laid his chest down against hers. “I plan to.”

His palm slapped over her mouth. As much as he loved to hear her scream, it was too much. He brought his middle finger to his mouth and sucked on it all the way up to his knuckle, slathering it with saliva.

Lowering it back down to her privates, he groaned, “Come on, baby.” He slipped his digit inside her as her muffled screams reverberated against his palm. “Get wet for me.”

Billy’s finger slowly pumped in and out of her as he added his thumb to her clit to draw pressurized circles. He could make out the stifled _no’s_ coming from behind his hand, but the fact that she was already starting to become wet encouraged him to continue, that she really wanted it.

Caroline shivered uncontrollably like her entire body was laying on a block of ice. His grunts and huffed giggles shamed her for her body’s reaction to his touch below. She didn’t want this. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. He was too strong for her to push away, even when he added a second finger.

“Yeah,” he sighed with a smile, removing his fingers from her and shuffling around. “You want it.” She felt him shift positions and heard him spit. 

She scrunched her eyes shut as she felt a larger intrusion thrust sharply inside her. She gasped at the sudden stretch and burn, trying to crawl up the bed away from it. Billy let out a long moan and buried his head in her neck as he stilled momentarily, his penis fully inside her.

 _“Ungh, fuck,”_ he grunted against her skin.

His hot breath felt like fire against her skin as he huffed against her neck and started to move. He hooked her leg over the arm that he used to steady himself, keeping her open as he continued his assault.

Try as she might to block it all out, she couldn’t. She felt every thrust, every burning jab as he crudely pounded into her— first slow and hard, then fast and hard. Her vagina felt like it was on fire. The sickening smell of cigarette smoke and his Paco Rabanne cologne was imprinted in her mind. He ignored the tears and the pained grunts coming from her. His tongue and mouth were all over her neck, shoulders, breasts. Hot tears left trails down the sides of her face that he at one point licked.

What lasted probably only a few minutes felt like an eternity. When he finished in her, he bit down hard against her shoulder to muffle his own whimper. She jerked and shrieked. His hips raggedly slowed until he finally collapsed his entire weight on top of her, releasing her leg and bringing his forearm closer to her shoulder. She felt his erection softening and slipping out of her, along with a warm, wet, oozing sensation.

He slid his hand from her mouth and wiped her saliva on the bedspread beneath them. She gasped for air but did not scream. As he propped himself on his forearms to look at her, he forced a kiss to her mouth. When he broke the kiss, he looked down at her with that shit-eating grin.

It sickened her, made her stomach churn. Reactively, she spit in his face. He slightly jumped at the contact her saliva made just beside his mouth, but he chuckled as he wiped it away with the back of his hand and then returned the favor by spitting on her face just under her eye. She jerked and turned away. The glob of spit slid down her cheek towards her ear and for some reason stung.

“Now,” he said, grabbing her jaw and compelling her to look at him. His eyes were softer— that fire had subsided. “You’re going to do a better job of listening from now on.” It wasn’t a question. “So, if I tell you to stay away from Harrington, you’re going to do it,” he nodded his head as he spoke. “And if I tell you to strip and get on all fours, you’re going to do it.” He saw the anxiety in her face. “Don’t think this was a one-time thing, doll face.” He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. The cologne on the pulse point of his neck burst into her nose. “Best damn pussy I ever had.” He kissed her cheek next. “Who’d’ve thought the best pussy was sleeping just one room over for the past two years, huh?”

Caroline mustered the courage and breath to assert, “No,” when he went to kiss her on the mouth.

“No?” Billy asked, a trace of humor on his tongue.

Her breathing was still shaky, “You’re not going to do this again.” She would go to the cops. There was undisputable evidence against him.

He grinned. “Who’s gonna stop me? Certainly not _you._ ”

Breaths short and shallow, she meant it to come out louder than a whisper, but it did not. “I’ll go to the cops.”

Now, he laughed, dipping to rest his forehead on her shoulder briefly before sitting back up and looking at her again. Her expression was serious but scared.

“You’re gonna run to the _cops, hm_?” He saw the wheels turning. “Nah,” he chuckled, “I think we both know you won’t say anything because—” he lowered himself down closer to her ear but spoke with average volume, “—yesterday I broke Max’s skateboard… maybe tonight I break her arm.”

Caroline shivered at the nonchalant way he threatened Max’s safety. She never thought that he would do what he just did. Hurting Max probably wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities anymore. Could she get her and Max someplace safe?

“You remember that little shit, Rogers?” he dragged his cheek along her jaw line as he propped himself back up to look at her face again.

 _How could she forget?_ That was the guy that he had put in the hospital. The one she told Steve about. The one he nearly _killed_.

“That was kid stuff,” he pecked her cheek with a dry kiss. “That was nothing,” _peck lower on the cheek,_ “compared to what I’ll do to Max,” _peck at the corner of her mouth,_ “if you say anything,” _peck on the mouth._ He looked at her lips. The skin surrounding her mouth was slightly more red than the rest of her skin. His stubble had scratched her up a bit.

He reached back into his pocket and retrieved the knife he used earlier. “This was fun,” he said it as if they had just gone to the movies. He slid the blade between her wrists and tugged at the constraints that he had tied around her, getting a better angle to cut them lose. “We should do it again sometime.” The fabric tore after he sliced at it a few times. “Shall we say, tonight?” Her eyes looked at his. “Eleven o’clock?”

 _He was dead serious._ It would be past Max’s bedtime. She would likely be fast asleep by then. Caroline didn’t know what else to do other than close her eyes and turn her head away from him, letting silent tears drip down her face. He took that as his cue to leave, having already gotten what he wanted.

Billy pushed himself from the bed and stood up. Even with his weight no longer pressing her into the mattress, she felt weighed down. He tucked himself back into his pants and looked at the mess that had settled on her pelvic region. He smirked, retrieving his shirt from the floor and putting it on as Caroline desperately grasped for the ends of her robe to cover herself back up from his unwelcome eyes.

Once dressed, he sat at the edge of the bed and looked at her face trying to stay hidden from view. He placed his hands on either side of her and leaned in closer.

“Popped your cherry,” he announced lowly. “Looks like that’s one more thing I beat King Steve at, huh?” Lowering his face to hers, he grabbed her chin and kissed her passionately on the mouth one last time. When she slapped him away in objection, he simply just chuckled.

He walked to the door and called out behind him, “Eleven o’clock.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Rape

Caroline had dressed herself when Billy left. Picked up her things that he had so viciously strewn to the ground. Put things back in place the best she could. Everything but herself. Her white robe and underwear were ruined, stained with the evidence of what he had done. She wrapped them up tightly and tossed them in the trashcan in the driveway at the back of the house. Even if the robe hadn’t been soiled, she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to wear it ever again.

She threw up twice before Billy brought Max home from the arcade. Once when she was cleaning the blood and other bodily fluids from herself, and again when she examined her body in the mirror. If she had felt like a shell of a person before, she didn’t know what she was now.

Through tear-soaked eyes, she noted the small split in her skin on the cheekbone from where Billy’s ring had struck her. It stung when she touched it, but she was able to secure a butterfly bandage strip from the first aid kit. Her skin, though red and blotchy from crying, was already starting to develop light shades of purple along her cheekbone. Without a doubt, it would be darker in the morning. She counted six hickeys from neck to breast. Two bitemarks. A flash of him played through her mind, _dragging his teeth over her skin before allowing them to sink into her flesh_. He wasn’t even in the house at this moment, and yet she could still feel him on her. This is what made the bile rise in her throat.

She stayed in her room all evening. Avoiding Billy. Avoiding Max. When Max came knocking at her door, she pretended to be sick and huddled herself into an even tighter ball on her bed. Max had come in to check on her and say goodnight, but Caroline pretended to be asleep. Blankets were piled high up on her to hide any marks that may be easily seen.

Eleven o’clock had come and gone that night, and still Billy had not entered her room. She didn’t allow herself to actually sleep. _11:13._ Her hands shook and her legs bounced. _11:41._ She wasn’t even tired. Too alert to any sound made within the house. _12:27._

Eventually, she had to pee. She toyed with the idea of peeing her pants or squatting in the corner. Anything to avoid leaving her room and potentially crossing paths with Billy. She shouldn’t want to be here. This is where it happened. But, nowhere else in the house felt safe. Except, the bathroom did have a lock on the door. It was the only room that had a lock.

She had slowly and quietly opened her door at 2:04am, unable to tolerate the burning sensation of a full bladder any longer. The house was pitch black, save for the little illumination of the outside streetlamps creeping in through cracked curtains. The only noise was the gentle humming of the refrigerator. At least she didn’t have to walk past Billy’s room.

In the bathroom, she locked the door. Lit enough from the nightlight by the bathroom sink, she didn’t bother to flip the light switch on. It burned when she peed, and she cried out, biting her fist to muffle the sound as soon as she realized she had made it. She flushed, washed her hands, splashed cold water on her face, looked in the mirror at the stranger looking back at her.

Her heart drummed rapidly when a light jostling of the doorknob broke the silence. No one spoke from the other side of the door. She watched the lock on the knob shift ever so slightly as whoever was outside the door again tried to turn the knob. Caroline crept back away from the door. When her back hit the wall at the far end of the room, she slid down along the wall until she collapsed to the floor in front of the toilet.

Silent tears flowed freely down her cheeks as her lungs begged her to take a breath. The cut on her cheek tingled as her salty tears invaded the wound. The faintest whimper eluded her lips, and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep quiet. _Billy slapped his hand over her mouth._ Immediately, she withdrew her hand from her face. The feeling of her own hand now an enemy. The room around her began to spin as the deafening sound of her pulse thumped in her ears and her lungs ached for more air.

 _“Caroline?”_ Max’s soft voice lulled from the other side of the door. _“Are you okay?”_

The relief from hearing Max instead of Billy was sensory overload. She gasped. Her stomach flip-flopped within her and sent a gush of bile up her esophagus. She let out a cry just before she lunged herself over the toilet bowl and let it all out again.

* * * * *

It was nearly ten after seven in the morning, and Caroline was almost certain that she had not slept a wink. She couldn’t now. Not until Billy was gone. Her eyes, drowsy from crying and lack of rest, watched the minutes on the alarm clock change once again.

A knock sounded at the door. Max _always_ knocked. She just didn’t always wait for a response. As her bedroom door slowly opened for the second time that morning, Caroline pulled the blankets up to her face again. Her bruised and battered cheek was hidden within the pillow because she laid on her side.

Max peeked in and offered a sympathetic smile to her older sister. “Hey,” she quietly spoke while she approached. “We’re getting ready to go to school. Do you need anything?”

Caroline was careful to shake her head— didn’t want to alarm her sister with any winces from sudden movement or by showing the colorful palette on the other side of her face.

“No,” she murmured weakly, her throat still hoarse from yesterday’s screaming and entire night of vomiting.

 _“Let’s go, shitbird!”_ Billy’s voice was loud enough to wake the dead.

It caused Caroline to flinch.

“Alright!” Max yelled back in frustration. “God,” she exasperatedly sighed.

Max said something else, this time to Caroline, but the sound of Billy’s jarring bootsteps approaching overshadowed her words. He stopped at the door and didn’t acknowledge Caroline. Instead, he again chastised Max for her attitude and not already being in the car. Caroline was thankful that Max’s placement obscured their view of each other.

“Feel better,” Max offered well wishes, this time in a gentler tone than she had used with Billy. “See ya later.”

“Bye.”

* * * * *

Although they had already exchanged unpleasantries that morning, Billy seemed to be in a better mood today than most days. He hummed along with the song on the radio, tapping his finger against the steering wheel, taking turns less jerky and fast as he drove. Max didn’t question it— figured it had to do with him and Caroline not going at each other’s throats this morning.

“I wonder what made Caroline so sick,” she speculated out loud.

Billy huffed under his breath. _She’s not sick; she’s avoiding._ “She’ll be fine,” he curtly responded.

Maybe he wasn’t in a better mood, after all. Max decided to keep quiet for the rest of the car ride, opting for the uncomfortable silence instead of things leading to an argument, as per usual.

“What did she say to you?” Billy spoke after a few quiet beats between them.

Max scrunched up her nose in confusion. “When?”

“This morning,” she could practically hear his eye roll. “What did she say to you?”

“Oh,” Max shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Billy didn’t believe her. He had heard their voices. “You just, went in her room and you two stared at each other for a few minutes?” Sarcasm coated his words.

“I just went in to tell her we were leaving and asked her if she needed anything. She seemed pretty tired. I don’t think she slept much last night. I heard her get up a few times and go to the bathroom.”

Billy was pleased. _At least she did as she was told and kept her mouth shut._ He felt rather confident that she did not sleep much, if at all. He had told her he would come back at eleven o’clock. Consciously, he did not return. He wanted to keep her guessing. Keep her in the unknown. The longer that happened, the more likely she would continue to be submissive. Walk on eggshells, do whatever he wanted. He, on the other hand, slept like the dead.

“Hopefully she just sleeps all day,” added Max.

They pulled into the school parking lot with a few minutes to spare until the first bell rang. Billy retrieved a cigarette from the pack in his jacket pocket, eager for his nicotine fix until he could sneak another one later in between classes.

“Not one minute late, or else—” Billy started to warn as Max made her exit from the car.

She interrupted him. “I’m walking home, yeah, yeah, I know.”

Max wondered why Billy was willing to wait twenty minutes for Caroline but not one minute for her. Since their parents were out of town, maybe he felt more comfortable with leaving her to fend for herself. No one would know he left her to walk, except for her and Billy, and probably Caroline.

“Hey,” he snapped. “Watch the attitude, shitbird.”

She rolled her eyes and shut the door. He lit the cigarette and watched from his seat as Max walked up the hill to the middle school. While looking in that direction, he noticed that Harrington’s car wasn’t in its usual spot a few spaces down. Billy turned and looked out the back window of the Camaro to see if the familiar BMW was parked elsewhere. He didn’t see it. Turning to his left and looking out his own window, he scanned the rest of the lot to his left. Not there. A deep puff of smoke entered his system but did nothing to calm his nerves.

Billy sucked his tongue against his teeth as he watched students walk towards the main entrance of the high school. He glanced over the crowd that was walking as well as the smaller groups of students that were stopped and conversing. He didn’t see him.

Surely, Caroline would not have been so stupid as to call Harrington last night when he left to pick up Max. _That would have taken some balls._

He sat for a moment, thinking through that scenario in his head, calculating his next move as he raised the cigarette back to his lips and left it perched there. She could have called Harrington. Told him something. Hell, told him _everything._ Maybe even developed a plan for her to skip school today, claiming she was sick, playing it up all night so it wouldn’t look suspicious. Then, when Billy left for school— because Neil had warned them _no skipping_ — Harrington would make his move. He would go to the house. Pick her up. Take her to police station. She would tell them. She’d tell them everything, just like she had said. Knowing that he would be in school and unable to follow through on his threat against Max, the cops would show up…

The bell rang, informing students that they needed to be in their homerooms. Billy played with the ring on his finger, spinning it around his sweaty digit as his heart raced at the scenario. For the first time, maybe ever in his life, he was worried about getting caught. Smoldering ash fell from the cigarette and landed on his exposed chest. He flinched and harshly patted himself to soothe the ache, tossing the cigarette out his window in frustration.

 _“Fuck!”_ he rubbed at his chest and ran his fingers through his hair anxiously.

Three minutes after the homeroom bell, the late bell rang. Everyone was where they needed to be. Except for Billy. And by the looks of it, Harrington, too.

“Fuck, fuck, _fuck!”_ He slammed his palm against the steering wheel with every exclamation and then turned the key in the ignition again, peeling out of the school parking lot to race back home.

* * * * *

Billy parked in front of the house. There were no other vehicles around. He wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or not. All it _really_ told him was that Harrington wasn’t here. Caroline’s whereabouts had yet to be determined. Sweat formed above his upper lip as he turned the key to unlock the front door and silently stepped inside.

It was so quiet he could hear a pin drop. He stood for a moment. _No voices._ He looked down by the front door and noticed Caroline’s sneakers were still there, undisturbed. _Good sign._ Lighter than usual, he treaded carefully through the house, cautious of making any noise that could alert Caroline to his presence.

Her bedroom door was shut. He grasped it delicately, like it was made from spun sugar. When the door creaked as he inched it open, he stopped briefly and gritted his teeth before he resumed through the noise to open it wide enough for him to step inside the room. He felt a bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck, his matted hair tickling his skin.

There laid Caroline. Covered up to her neck, back facing him, brunette hair splayed behind her over her pillow. Her relaxed, slow breathing suggested that she had finally fallen asleep. Likely because she felt safe enough with the thought that she had the house to herself for the next nine hours. Even with those covers pulled up to her arms, he could still make out the shape of curvaceous hips beneath the surface.

Billy wiped the sweat away from his upper lip. Confidence returned, he toed his boots off and lightly padded over to her bed. He stared down at the back of her for a moment. She didn’t stir. She was out like a light. He smirked as he removed his jacket and laid it at the foot of the bed. Next, he unbuckled his belt and undid the front of his jeans, sliding them over toned legs until he was left in just his short-sleeved crimson button-down shirt and boxer briefs. He slowly undid the last few buttons of his shirt with his eyes trained on her. He tossed it in a heap on the floor.

Pulling back the covers cautiously so as not to wake her, he saw the dark purple circle at the base of her neck where her shirt exposed her skin. His cock twitched, knowing that it was his mouth that had been there, that had branded her. He wanted to make twenty more just like it. Mark her up all over and completely ruin her for Harrington.

The bed creaked beneath his weight as he placed himself under the covers alongside her. Still, she did not move, and her breathing remained even. He propped himself on his side facing her. The first thing he did was smell her hair, an easy task to accomplish with it fanned out in front of him. _So intoxicating_.

Light as a feather, his fingers brushed over the bare skin on her arm. Goosebumps formed where he had touched her. She shifted and rubbed at her arm like she had an itch. Billy’s fingers hovered above her, waiting for her body to come to rest again. When she did, he smirked and resumed his featherlike touches down her arm, to her hip, and then his hand meandered its way beneath the waistband of her sleeping shorts. His fingers dragged over the soft border of her underwear.

It was when he rubbed his clothed erection against her butt that she gasped and lifted her head rapidly. The arm attached to the hand that was in her shorts tightened around her waist and pulled her hard against him. He seized the opportunity to wrap his other arm under her neck when she lifted her head, his other hand finding her breast and cupping it roughly.

“Miss me?” the smile could be heard in his deep, covetous speech.

“No,” she whined as she attempted to push him off. “Go away.”

“Aww,” he feigned disappointment. “Come on,” he pressed a kiss to her covered shoulder. “You didn’t miss this?”

His fingers slid lower and started to rub circles against her clothed womanhood. Caroline squeezed her legs together and grabbed at his forearm, trying to pull it away from her body. He humped her backside several times for good measure, relentless in his strokes against her sex.

“Stop,” she said louder.

He nuzzled his nose into her hair at the back of her neck. “Heard you were up all night waiting for me,” he jeered. “Figured I’d surprise you. Are you surprised?”

She twisted to move away from him anywhere she could. He removed his hand from her shorts and gripped her hip.

“Turn over, let me see you.”

She tried to object by resisting his pulling, but in the end, he moved her to her back like he wanted. He swung his leg over her and sat with their thighs flanked between each other. She balled her hands into fists and tried to punch him, but their positioning left his face too far for her to reach. He snatched her wrists and pinned them down by her head. The light bruise and cut on her cheek paused him, and he wondered what the rest of her looked like beneath the guise of her shirt. He slid his hands from her wrists to her forearms as he pushed himself back into a sitting position.

Fingering the hem of her shirt, he groaned, “Take off your shirt.” He started to lift the material up over milky abdominal skin, but her hands pushed his own down, wanting to maintain her modesty.

“No!” Caroline shouted at him.

“Caro _liiiiine,_ ” he gravelly reprimanded with dark eyes. “You remember what I said, don’t you?”

_When I tell you to (insert action here), you’re going to do it… Today I broke Max’s skateboard… maybe tonight I break her arm._

Caroline’s vision blurred as tears filled her eyes, terrified that he would do what he did yesterday. Her hands rested on his. She hated the contact, but it was the only way she could keep her shirt on for now. Lips quivered, trying to choke back the sobs building within her. She tried to sound strong.

“Please—"

He smiled, thinking of an even more humiliating experience. “I’ll even give you the choice,” he withdrew his hands and placed them on his thighs. “Take off your shirt, or don’t. You pick.”

The edge in his voice was daring her to not take her shirt off. The smirk at the corners of his mouth knew that she would. Caroline knew that if she didn’t take it off, that he would do it for her. And then he would do God knows what else because she disobeyed him. She was his puppet right now. He knew it. She knew it, too.

Swallowing whatever self-respect she had left, her fingers curled around the hem of her shirt. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together as she raised the fabric up and over her chest. Impatient, Billy helped her by yanking it off the rest of the way when she struggled with it at her head. It landed somewhere next to his own clothes. Embarrassed, ashamed, and degraded, she crossed her arms over her bare chest.

“Nuh nuh nuh nuh,” he grasped her wrists and easily pried them apart. “I want to _see_ you.”

She turned her head to avoid looking at him as he moved her arms to her side.

“Holy shit,” he chuckled, admiring the dark bruises on her neck, shoulder, and breasts, tracing the teeth marks and hickeys with his calloused finger. “Marked you up good, didn’t I?” He seemed to be in a dreamlike state, entranced by the ravages that he had inflicted. “What will King Steve think, huh?”

Billy dropped his hands to the bed to hold himself up as he tended light, wet licks followed by kisses to each bruise and scratch etched into her skin.

“Don’t,” Caroline unsteadily whimpered with his lips on her neck. She pushed against his shoulders.

He sat up and furrowed his brow. “ _Don’t?”_ he crossly repeated. _“Don’t?”_ His fingers dug into her jaw and yanked her head so that she was facing him. “I _own_ you,” he informed with malice in his voice. “I can do whatever I want. I can do _this_ ,” his tongue licked her mouth in the most grotesque, slovenly way she could have ever imagined a kiss being. He ignored her sputtering and squirming. “I can do _this,_ ” he brought his hand to her breast and gave it a firm squeeze, pinching her nipple between his thumb and index finger until it formed a peak. “I can even do _this,”_ he shoved his hand into her shorts, bypassing her underwear and gruffly fondling her.

“No!” she screamed out a protest on deaf ears.

His jaw was slack, and his tongue slightly protruded from his mouth as he curled his fingers into her, eliciting another gasp and a sob as she threw her head back. She was surprisingly dry. Her nails dug into his biceps, but he enjoyed that pain.

All she could think to do was try to kick when he moved from her thighs to pull her shorts and underwear off. Running was futile, as she had discovered yesterday. Besides that, he was in her way. He moved so quickly, so violently.

She swung her arms, contacting his face a few times but mostly his arms as he swatted back at them. When she screamed louder, he clenched his hand around her throat to cut her off. There was no music today to drown out her sounds. The hand wrapped around her throat as he slammed into her added a new level of fear to the equation. She learned quickly that when she cried out in protest, his grip tightened; and, when she was silent or just grunting, he let up.

Tears still fell from her eyes, though. The spit he had used to lubricate himself was not enough to smoothly accommodate him. She tried to take herself to another place. Leave her body for the next ten minutes. His head bobbed in and out of her view as he dipped down for kisses and to muffle his own animalistic noises against her skin. Dark golden curls tickled against her from time to time.

A thin crack in the ceiling at the corner of her room above her. That’s where she focused. As best as she could as he whispered despicable things in her ear. About how her body felt. What he would do to her later. How long he had wanted to do this. He used slang terms for everything, ensuring embarrassment and shame for the rest of her life. The hot breath against her ear as he quickened his pace and exhaled with every thrust brought her in and out of awareness.

“ _Fuck_ ,” he grunted fiercely, again quickening his pace like a jackrabbit and hammering into her.

She had not made a sound aside from her own pained grunts. His fingers squeezed against her throat along with the increased speed of his thrusts. It took him a few more seconds before his pelvis finally rammed against hers and wavered with a loud sob of his own. Buried to the hilt, his abdominal muscles contracted against hers three times. He rode out his orgasm by grinding himself in circles inside her, ensuring that every last bit of him had been emptied. It felt so good, feeling her velvety soft insides sheathe him.

He collapsed on top of her. Blonde curls beneath her chin, cheek against her chest as he caught his breath. She could feel the wetness of sweat and cum between her legs.

“Just think,” Billy breathed, scraping his stubble against her skin as he turned and lifted his head to look at her face. “If you get pregnant, we won’t have to worry about condoms for the next nine months.” He laughed when her face contorted in disgust and contempt. He dragged his hand from her throat and playfully slapped her cheek twice with his fingertips. “I know, I know,” he breathed out a laugh, “I’ll wrap it next time, ‘kay?”

As he dressed, he ordered her to do the same. He wanted to show her something. Told her to put makeup on to hide the bruise on her face when they went out. When she informed him that her foundation bottle had broken last night and she had to throw it away, he promised to take her to the store to get another one since she had been such a good girl this morning. The bile rose in her throat again and she grimaced as she swallowed it back down.

* * * * *

She wore jeans and a black turtleneck, covering as much skin as she possibly could. Not just so others would not see the evidence left behind by her stepbrother, but so she had a layer between him and her. Brown waves cascaded down on either side of her face, curtaining her neck and obscuring her face from view. When he saw those marks, it was like he was proud. Turned on. She pulled her denim jacket tightly over her chest and crossed her arms as Billy drove them someplace unfamiliar. She tried to disappear into the seat, making herself as small and unnoticeable as possible.

His speed was a little slower than normal as the pavement turned to a dirt road littered with rocks and divots. Her ears popped with a slight change in elevation as they rounded a large foothill. Dirt turned to gravel. Pebbles crunched beneath the tires and kicked up a cloud of gray dust behind them as they drove. Billy turned the wheel and came to a stop when there was a small, clear opening overlooking a large body of water. _The quarry_. She had heard it mentioned a few times but had never seen it herself.

“Get out,” he said with a monotone, opening his own door and stepping out of the car. He tossed the keys lightly in his hand.

She looked around her. _Isolated._ A stony hillside etched with mining lines towered above them at the back. Two smaller hills littered with large rocks and saplings were on either side of the vehicle, essentially encasing them in. Hesitantly, she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

The air was cooler up here. Closer to the clouds. Mildly humid as she breathed through her nose. He stood by the hood of the car, holding his arm out expectantly for her to join him. Her steps were cautious. She flinched when he threw his arm over her shoulders and held her close. Hips bumped against each other as he marched them forward closer to the cliff. He sensed her trepidation when her feet took shorter steps and he had to pull her along under his arm.

They came to a halt about four feet away from the ledge. The severe gusts of wind terrified Caroline, like they would be strong enough to make her lose her balance and sweep her into the frigid water below. Billy kicked a golf ball sized rock with his toe, sending it rolling over the edge. She listened for the rock to hit the water even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to hear it. Not something that small, that far away. Not with the wind talking in one ear and Billy in the other.

“From this height,” Billy spoke as he slinked his hand to the back of her neck, “that fall would break every bone in your body.” He drank in her fear. “You wouldn’t have to worry about drowning or freezing to death, just… _BAM!”_ he shouted with a jolt and sharply clapped his hands together, eliciting a scared squeak and a jump from Caroline. “Like hitting cement.”

Billy smirked at her and hummed a laugh within his throat. He looked out beyond the cliff, at the vast space between them and the water. His hand returned to the back of her neck, gently massaging the tense muscles between his thumb and fingers.

“You know why I came home this morning?” he peered down at her. She just shook her head in response. He went on to explain, “I didn’t see Harrington’s car at school. And I got to thinking that… _maybe…_ you had arranged a secret rendezvous.”

He chuckled again, a masked method to put her falsely at ease. She didn’t reply, just listened. The wind blew fiercely into her ear like a whistle. Her eyes remained fixed on the ledge that they were so dangerously close to.

“I’ll be honest, I was surprised when I got home and his car wasn’t there,” Billy calmly disclosed with a nod of his head. He pouted his lip, “But then I wondered… did you set up a different time to meet? I mean, I know you were up all night. Maybe you called him and told him some story about you and me, and how you needed to go to the cops—"

Her voice cracked, “I didn’t call anybody.”

“Or, maybe you called him yesterday when I went to get Max,” Billy pondered. “It’s just too much of a coincidence that you had a little date with him yesterday… you threaten me with running to the cops… and now suddenly, neither one of you were in school this morning.”

Caroline vehemently shook her head in disagreement.

“What did you tell him, Caroline?” he calmly asked while tightening his grip, practically pinching her neck.

She shook her head and hunched her shoulders. “Nothing. I didn’t call him.”

“What did you tell him?” he asked again, pushing her forward closer to the ledge.

Survival instincts started to kick in. Her feet attempted to plant themselves to the ground, but the hard pebbles beneath her shoes gave her no traction. Her feet were now just six inches away from stepping off the cliff and plummeting to her death. Her knees nearly buckled and her heart beat ferociously in her ears and chest.

Fisting her hair at the base of her scalp, he forced her to bend over to witness her fate. “ _WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?!”_ Billy’s raucous voice rebounded through the quarry. The question he asked only once repeated itself multiple times in the sky.

“ _Nothing_! Nothing! I swear to God, Billy!” Caroline screamed and cried as she threw her hands behind her and clasped them around his wrist as tightly as she could, terrified that he would let go.

The distance between her and the water was so far. She felt the wind from below beat against her face as she struggled to stand up and get away from danger. One wrong move and she would be gone forever.

“You sure about that?” Billy spoke loudly, jerking her hair and pushing against her head to keep her looking down.

“I didn’t call anyone! Please, please, _please,_ believe me! I swear to _God!”_ she implored his mercy. “Please,” she whined with a cry until she shook from running out of air.

If this didn’t get her to fess up, chances were she was telling the truth. Perhaps Harrington’s absence from school truly was just a coincidence. At the very least, he was going to make sure that she would never say anything.

“Alright,” Billy sighed, “I believe you.” Cool as a cucumber, as if he had not just been teetering her over the edge of a massive cliff.

He jerked her back and released her hair, sending her falling to her butt on the bumpy ground. Whatever air was left in her lungs left with a grunt when she hit the terrain. Billy started to walk towards her, a smirk which flaunted his power displayed on his face.

If she had any sense left, she would have scrambled to crab walk backwards on her hands and feet. The look on his face was too familiar to feel safe. Her body shook and felt like it had no bones to carry herself away. She only managed to prop herself up. Sharp pieces of rocks and gravel dug into the soft flesh of her palm.

“Let this be a reminder,” Billy warned as he approached her menacingly, “of what will happen to you, or Steve, or Max, if you _do_ say anything.”

* * * * *

The tires screeched as Billy pulled into a parking spot outside of Melvald’s General Store. Traffic in the main part of town was rather stark. Unsurprising, for a weekday morning. Most people were likely already at work, or school. Where they _should_ have been, under normal circumstances.

Billy placed the car in park. He leaned closer towards the center console in order to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket. Not wanting to be closer to him than she already was, she casually moved closer to the passenger window. He didn’t seem to notice.

He retrieved a five-dollar bill from his wallet. He looked at her profile. Different shades of purple and blue lined her cheekbone. It wasn’t an incredibly dark bruise, but definitely distinguishable from the rest of her skin. She flinched when he reached across and grazed his finger against her cheek, sweeping her hair back to get a better look at the masterpiece he had created. He chewed on his bottom lip, wanting to lick her face along the bruise. But, they were in public now. Someone could see. He sighed and retracted his finger, covering her cheek back up with her hair.

Holding out the money in Caroline’s direction, he warned her over the loud rock music, “Don’t talk to anyone.”

She went to take the five-dollar bill, but he gripped it tight between his fingers when she tugged at it. His eyebrows raised in a questioning manner when she looked at him. He was waiting for a response.

“Okay,” she agreed.

With that, he let go of the bill. She stepped out of the car, and he watched her walk inside. He hadn’t had a cigarette since he left the school earlier that morning. While he waited for her to get whatever coverup she needed, he decided to light one up.

It was relatively quiet in the store, except for the jingling bell at the door when she walked through. A lady was kneeling in the aisle ahead of Caroline, marking items with her little sticker gun. She had called out a friendly _hello_ that Caroline acknowledged with a brief wave.

There was a small section in the front corner of the store that had makeup products neatly lined up and hanging from silver pegs. She was surprised to find the brand that she typically used. It took some searching, but the color she needed was there. She looked out the large windows at the Camaro, finding that Billy was watching her. Veils of white smoke billowed out from the crack in his window. She hesitated with grabbing the bottle she needed, pretending that she was still searching. Anything to give her a few more minutes away from him. Her fingers touched just about every item on and around the shelf that she could see.

The bell at the front of the store jingled as another person entered. Caroline looked up, half expecting Billy to come waltzing in with complaints that she was taking too long. Instead, she saw a tall, stocky man in a tan uniform, blue coat, and brimmed hat walk in. A gold badge glimmered above his left breast pocket. She looked outside at the line of parking spaces and saw his matching tan and cream Chevrolet Blazer parked a two spots down from the Camaro. _HAWKINS POLICE DEPT._ and _CHIEF_ adorned the driver’s side.

Her eyes widened at the unexpected twist of fate. She wouldn’t go to the police. Billy knew that. But, if the police came to her… if he asked about the busted skin and bruised cheekbone… She wasn’t going to lie to a cop. She didn’t think…

The man had a deep voice and called out for Joyce. _That must be the woman in the aisle._ Caroline dipped her head down to pretend to be looking at the makeup display but flitted her eyes up to watch the interaction between the two adults. They seemed to be pleasant with each other. They were at least friends. Maybe something more.

Knowing that Billy would be antsy with the presence of the police so close, she latched onto the bottle of foundation that she was going to purchase and started to walk across the store to the cash register. Her steps were slow and light. Like walking on ice. Caroline overheard the chief of police say something about rotted pumpkins. But she was more focused on what it was she was going to say when she got to them. _If_ they questioned her.

Caroline side-eyed Billy’s Camaro. From this distance and angle, she could barely make out the shape of him with the glare bouncing off the glass. The car was still there, though. Smoke continued to waft from the driver’s side. She wondered if his eyes were on her, or on the police chief. She wondered if he felt nervous. _He should be._

 _Say something,_ she told herself. _This is your chance._

She stopped a few paces back from the man who was easily at least ten inches taller than she. She was quiet as he and Joyce spoke to each other. _Say something._ Her jittery nerves held her voice hostage in her throat. Again, she side-eyed the Camaro. _If not now, when? Speak up._ The threat of being held over the edge of a cliff, Max’s arm being broken, she or Steve being dropped to their deaths all played back in her mind.

“Hop,” the woman cleared her throat. Caroline couldn’t even see the woman behind the burly man’s broad figure.

He turned his head and apologetically stepped to the side when he noticed Caroline standing behind him with an item and cash in hand.

“Oop. Sorry,” he mumbled. Caroline caught the name on his badge. _Hopper._

His eyes narrowed at her curiously when she didn’t move. Following the quick movement of his eyes from hers, she realized that he was studying the small, colorful wound on her cheek that must have been visible through her hair. The deer-in-headlights look probably didn’t help give the impression that things were okay.

Hoping to leave before he asked her any questions, she quickly turned her head away from him, stepped forward, and placed the bottle on the countertop. She brushed any remaining hair from behind her ears, trying to shield the unsightly colors from anyone else’s view.

“Um,” the dark-haired woman stammered, looking back and forth between the cop and Caroline. Caroline glanced at her name tag. _Joyce._ “Did you find everything okay?”

Caroline refused to look at her face, but nodded nonetheless.

Joyce rang the item up and announced the total. As she took the cash from Caroline, she motioned her eyes from Hopper back to the battered teen with the concerned look of a mother. Hopper narrowed his eyes at her, at first confused with what she was expecting of him. Joyce was slow in handing back the change, nodding her head more noticeably in Caroline’s direction for him to take notice or say something. Hopper discreetly flicked his hand up and nodded his head, a noiseless acknowledgement.

“Uh,” Joyce tried to lengthen the interaction. “Would you like that in a bag?”

Caroline shook her head _no_ and grasped the item from the counter, placing the coins back in her pocket. When she turned and went to step around the large man, he held his hand out to his side to signal her to stop.

“Hey, kid,” he gently spoke. She stopped. “Are you okay?”

Caroline bit the inside of her lip, internally debating on how to answer that question. _Say something, stupid!_ She raised her head high enough to be able to look at the Camaro through her thick lashes. Without moving her head anymore, she glanced up at Hopper. He moved the hand that he had put out to stop her up to his short beard and rubbed at it. An audible scratching sound filled the uncomfortable silence.

A shrill, long blast of the Camaro’s horn echoed outside. Caroline’s body jerked in surprise. Hopper and Joyce turned to see where the noise was coming from. Without responding to his question, Caroline brushed past the tall man and exited the store.

Hopper turned around and watched as the young girl got into the passenger seat of the car that had just honked obnoxiously. The driver hardly waited for her to close the door before reversing into the street and taking off like a bat out of hell, squealing tires when he shifted gears.

“Hop, did you see her face?” Joyce placed her hand against her own cheek.

He nodded his head, continuing to look out the large glass windows despite the Camaro being far out of sight by now.

“She’s just a kid,” Joyce’s heart sank. She crossed her arms, feeling uneasy about what she had just witnessed. She herself had been in a relationship that was abusive in many ways.

Hopper turned back around to face Joyce. He tilted his head towards the outside and asked, “You know them?”

Joyce shook her head. “No. No, I don’t. I’ve seen the car around, though. Drives like a maniac.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archive warning: Referenced rape

Billy was spent. It had been a while since he had sex three times in one day, but he wasn’t going to waste the day and pass up _this_ opportunity. Here he was— hunched over Caroline’s back, her hands trapped between their bodies with the assistance of his belt wrapped around them, panting as he tried to steady his breathing. He stayed there for a minute, not wanting to give up the contact just yet. As he softened and plopped out of her with a shift of his hips, he dragged his lips across her skin. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder blade as he gripped her hips tightly for leverage to push himself back up.

Her legs gave in as soon as he backed away from her. She rolled to her side and pressed her back against the wall. Hair matted to her face where it had been between her and the pillow, sweat and tears working as an adhesive. Her foundation had rubbed off from her face, too, leaving a smudge of beige coverup on the lilac colored pillowcase. Hair stuck between her lips and fluttered with every breath in and out that she took.

He had left the room. Probably disposing of the condom somewhere Max wouldn’t see it. Caroline shivered and shook despite her body feeling hot. She squeezed her legs together and dropped her right leg over her left, doing her best to shield her pubic area from view when he returned. Her fingers curled, trying to reach the edge of the leather belt binding her wrists together, but she couldn’t quite reach. Leather and sweat were never a pleasant combination. It was digging into and rubbing against her skin. Billy had ensured that she wouldn’t be able to punch him again. She felt raw on her wrists, amongst other places.

He came back into the room wearing a pair of red boxer briefs. His chest gleamed with a coating of sweat. The hair around his forehead was damp and sticking to his skin. The rest of it was a tousled mess. Loose curls fell here and there while others were tangled into various sized knots. The slightest hint of blush was present on his cheeks, no doubt from exertion.

Caroline had put up a good fight this time. She had pulled out some of his hair. Bit his hand. Punched him in the jaw. Kneed him in the groin. Headbutted him once, but that seemed to hurt her more than it had harmed him. The fight she put up was probably the reason he decided to switch things up and take her from behind.

Not that he was gentle the first several times he had assaulted her, but he was sure to not hold back this time. Her arm had felt like it was going to pop out of the socket when he was able to first regain control of them. She hurt. Her hips, though she could not see them right now, were certainly bruised with his fingerprints. They stung a little, too. Probably from his nails embedding themselves into her skin. The skin on her posterior felt hot from the barrage of smacks he had delivered. She was sore between her legs. Even her insides felt bruised if that was possible. Her lower abdomen throbbed where she was certain his erection would bust through her with the forces of his thrusts.

“Isn’t that a pretty picture,” Billy admired her naked, helpless form from the doorway, holding up his fingers as if he were framing her into a photo. He noisily smacked on a piece of gum like a cow chewing cud.

She could hardly see him through the strands of hair that covered her face. Detained hands prevented her from being able to brush them away, from making herself comfortable— although, that was impossible given the circumstances.

He waltzed over to her, rolling his tongue around in his mouth to play with his gum. The bed depressed as he sat next to her. She flinched away from him when he touched her, but that didn’t stop him from carrying on. Lightly, he dragged his fingers over her face, stroking her hair and brushing it out of the way, behind her ear, behind her neck. Her cheeks had a sheen to them from crying. However, the look on her face once her hair was out of the way wasn’t that of sadness or fear. It looked more like contempt. It reminded Billy once again that she didn’t look at him the way she looked at Harrington.

“Maybe I’ll keep you like this ‘til Dad and Susan come home,” he continued to comb his fingers through her hair. “Just ditch Max somewhere. Keep you all to myself. Tied to the bed.” His jaw tightened as he chewed and swirled the gum around in his mouth.

Caroline glanced up at his face. He had that dreamlike look about him again. Like he was far off somewhere else, and his body was merely just going through the motions.

“Fuck you,” Caroline spat through clenched teeth, whipping her head to get his fingers away from her.

She wasn’t in a position to make that call, though. She was still bound. Still naked. Still under him. Billy continued to stroke her hair. Several strands had fallen back over her eyes and nose when she had jerked her body with such intensity. Without the California sun, it appeared that her hair was becoming darker.

“Hmm,” he hummed while he thought. _“Fuck you,”_ he repeatedly softly and deeply. He lightly bounced his head from side to side, acting like he was having an internal debate. “Fuck you,” he echoed again with more humor in his voice. “I _did_ fuck you,” he looked down at her while he calmly spoke. He dipped down low to hover just above her face, brushing against her ear with his nose. “Three… _no… four_ times, I fucked you,” he nuzzled the shell of her ear before darting his tongue out and giving it a quick lick.

Caroline hunched her shoulder, just barely catching him in the face when he sat up. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, rolling her onto her belly. She kicked her legs and tried to sit back up until she realized what he was doing.

While he worked at undoing the belt encircling her wrists, he continued to speak. “All in _your_ bed, too,” he chuckled. “We did missionary,” he sounded pleased, “and doggy,” he said almost in sing-song inflection. He rubbed at the red indentations of her wrists once the belt was removed. “Maybe tonight,” he finished with a whisper, “I’ll taste you.”

Caroline pulled her arms away from him and pushed herself up on the bed. Leaning against the headboard, she pulled her knees all the way up to her chest and crossed her ankles. It made her small and also shielded her intimate areas from his view. She rubbed at her own wrists, noticing the deep red color where it was the sorest.

He grabbed her wrists and examined the redness. “I’ll have to find something softer,” he said aloud but mostly as a reminder to himself. Long sleeves could hide these marks for now.

He smirked and stood up, retrieving his jeans from the floor and stepping into them. “Of course, we’ll have to do something about that mouth of yours.” He jumped twice to shimmy the tight pants over his pelvis. “Lord knows you can’t keep quiet when my dick is in you,” he looked at her and winked.

Caroline felt disgusting. She felt used, and damaged, and humiliated. Billy’s nasty dirty talk soured her stomach and made her feel like she had no worth. She wondered how many more times this would happen. Neil and her mom would be home in a few days. Would Billy still find a way into her bed? What about on days when Max would be home sick from school, and she and Billy would be alone in the car? Graduation was still more than half a year away. She couldn’t do this for that long. Once was too many times. If this was going to be her life for the next seven months… She needed to find a way out.

“Why are you doing this?” Caroline half-heartedly spoke, wrapping her arms around her legs. She mustered the courage to look him in the eye. Maybe he would see that she is human. A person. A living thing. With feelings, and thoughts, and hopes, and dreams. That she is somebody’s little girl. Maybe, if she could convince herself to not look away, it would make _him_ feel uneasy.

He finished fishing his belt through the loops of his pants and buckled it, glancing at her every few seconds while he moved on to grab his button-down shirt. His fingers threaded the buttons on the bottom half of his shirt so nimbly. They didn’t shake like her fingers did.

“ _Why?_ ” he repeated her question. She looked back up to his eyes, matching his focus. “Do I really _need_ a reason?” he asked rhetorically, a toothy grin taking over his face as he smacked his gum. When she didn’t look away, he shrugged. “Because I’m bored.” He again sat on the edge of the bed up by her body. “And I like to fuck.”

“Then why don’t you do it with someone who actually wants to?” Caroline’s tone was snippy. There were plenty of girls at school who drooled over him.

Billy smirked. _He would. But he was living out a fantasy right now._ “You know I’m partial to California girls,” he placed his hand on her cheek, almost sweetly, sweeping his thumb over a tear that was about to drop.

She turned her face away from him. There was no shame or remorse on his part. No amount of eye contact she gave him was going to make him feel otherwise.

“I have to go get Max,” he looked at his watch. “Give me one for the road,” he approached her for a kiss.

Caroline pushed away from him, hurling herself into the corner of her bed in a futile effort to evade him. It only made it that much easier for him to keep her in place when he cupped his hands around her face and pressed his lips against hers. His tongue forcefully pressed against her tightly sealed lips and he moaned repulsively against her mouth. She knew it wasn’t because the kiss itself felt enjoyable to him; it was because it made her feel like a _thing_. He pulled away with a wet sounding smack from his lips. Caroline immediately wiped his saliva away with the back of her hand.

“You’d better be here when I get back,” he announced as he walked to her door. “No phone calls.” Turning around and placing his hand on the knob, he continued, “Otherwise, the next time you see Max, you won’t recognize her.” He stared at her for a moment, opening his jaw and rolling the gum from left to right.

With that, he left. Caroline ran her fingers through her hair and balled her hands into fists, pulling hard enough at her locks to make it hurt. She knew she couldn’t do anything without risking putting Max in harm’s way. She reached for her pillow and brought it to her face. Burying her face hard against the plush surface, she wailed. Screamed like she had never screamed before. Until she thought blood would splatter out from how hard she rattled her vocal cords and she had no air left to expel. She needed to think of a plan that could safely get her and Max out of there.

* * * * *

As Max was approaching the bathroom door, it opened. Caroline stepped out and Max froze where she stood. Caroline was clearly wearing makeup. The beige foundation might have blended a similar color into that butterfly bandage; but beneath that color, it was obvious that the texture was different from her skin. The split in her skin was also distinguishable from the rest of her smooth features. Her eyes looked tired and bloodshot, red-rimmed and puffy.

Max gasped lightly when she saw her. “What happened to _you?_ ”

Caroline was about to raise her finger to her mouth to shush her, to direct her to follow her to her room to discuss her plan. But, Billy stepped into view. He stood behind Max and leaned his arm against the wall.

He acted rather convincingly as the stepbrother that had been in school all day and had no idea what was going on. “ _Jesus_. What happened to your face?”

He cocked an eyebrow and his lower jaw hung loosely. It was a farce he could not hold for long, because when Caroline looked at him, he smirked and winked at her.

Reflexively, Caroline tugged at the ends of her black sleeves to ensure the marks on her wrist stayed hidden. “I passed out and fell down earlier,” she muttered. “I’m fine.”

Billy smirked behind Max. It was believable enough that she had been sick all day, weak and dehydrated, and fell during a brief blackout. _Good job, Caroline._

“Maybe you should lay back down for a little while,” Billy suggested a phony solution.

Max looked over her shoulder with a scrunched face. Never, in the years that she had known him, had he ever said anything even remotely thoughtful. It seemed kind of out of character. If he had said something like, ‘ _It’s an improvement’,_ or, ‘ _I didn’t think your face could get any uglier’,_ or even if he had called her a _‘clumsy bitch,’_ it would have raised fewer red flags.

Caroline disagreed. “I _said_ I’m _fine_.” Her tone was borderline annoyed, coming through clenched teeth.

Max sensed that there was something off. Something more to it than what Caroline was saying. The look on her face when they first saw each other after school almost looked desperate.

“No,” Max made eyes at Caroline, silently asking her to play along. Billy was unable to see. “I think it’s a good idea. Come on, I’ll tuck you back in.”

Caroline didn’t think Billy would allow them to be alone, but he did. A creature of habit, he changed into workout clothes, turned on MTV, and went to his weights while Max led Caroline back to her room. They closed the door and spoke in hushed whispers, just to be safe. Caroline realized that Billy was really counting on his earlier threats and actions to be enough to keep her from doing or saying anything behind his back.

Max closed the bedroom door and placed her bookbag and skateboard on the floor while Caroline paced the length of the room, hands thrown up into her hair.

“What is going on?” Max approached her softly.

Caroline hurriedly turned around and threw her arms around Max, hugging her tighter than she ever had before. Quiet sobs slipped through her lips. She didn’t want to be too loud for fear that Billy would hear and intervene. Max stayed incredibly still. Her eyes were wide and full of concern. Something was wrong. She and Caroline always had a good relationship, but she was holding her like she would never see her again. Max gently wrapped her arms around Caroline and patted her back, not knowing what else to do.

“Caroline?” Max beckoned her to talk, the side of her face pressed against Caroline’s shoulder.

Her sister’s body shook as she struggled to keep the sobs from getting too loud. Her grip tightened on her, as if holding on to something would keep her from losing control. She couldn’t bring herself to talk yet.

Max’s eyes started to well with tears. “Caroline, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” Her voice was shaky and somewhat whiny as she tried not to cry herself.

Caroline pulled back from her and placed her hands on either side of Max’s face. Max’s green eyes, glistening with fresh tears, searched Caroline’s face for an answer.

Bending slightly to face Max eye to eye, Caroline whispered, “Did he hurt you?”

“Who?”

“Billy.”

“No… why would he?” Max questioned, completely oblivious to the horrible, awful, despicable things he had been doing to Caroline over the past twenty-four hours.

Caroline sobbed a relieved breath and hugged Max once more, stroking her auburn hair.

Max brought her hands up to Caroline’s arms and pulled them away from her. “Caroline, you have to tell me what is going on.”

The older girl sniffled and shook her head. She turned from Max and went to sit on the bed. “There’s no time. We have to get out of here.”

“What are you talking about?” Max’s voice was unintentionally growing louder the more frustrated she became with not having the answers she wanted. Caroline hung her head and appeared to be ashamed. Max’s heart sank and her voice got lower. “You didn’t fall today, did you?”

Caroline held her hands out and motioned for her to keep the noise down. “Listen, I don’t want to get into the details, but we’re not safe here with Billy.” Max wanted to ask what he did, but Caroline was dancing in circles around it. “Do you have a, uh, uh,” she stammered, “a friend’s house you can stay at?”

Max frowned and shrugged her shoulders. “All the friends I’ve made are boys.”

“Just temporarily,” Caroline declared quickly. “Just until Mom and Neil get home. A few days.” Max hesitated and grimaced. “Even if you have to bounce around to a few houses, can you do it?”

Max sighed, not due to exasperation, but due to the uncertainty of the request. “I don’t know.”

“Max,” Caroline almost snapped. “It’s really important that you do this.”

“Um,” Max swallowed and crossed her arms. “Yeah, okay. I-I guess I could ask Lucas. He has a little sister. I could maybe sleep in her room if their parents allow.”

Caroline dropped her head with a sigh. Relieved. “Okay, good.” She looked back up at Max. “What’s Lucas’s last name?”

“Sinclair.”

This would make it easier for Caroline to locate Max, since this plan would involve them being separated from each other.

“Okay,” Caroline licked her lips.

She looked at the door. She needed to make sure Billy wasn’t listening. She got up and cracked the door just enough to be able to peek outside into the hallway. He was nowhere to be seen. The faint clattering of the heavy weights on the barbell could be heard through the breaks in the music. She closed the door and walked back over to Max.

Caroline spoke quickly and quietly. “Here’s what I need you to do.”

* * * * *

Max swiftly hung up the phone after calling Lucas’s house. It was the shortest conversation she had ever had on the phone. While Billy was in his bedroom changing from his workout clothes, she was trying to make plans with him.

_“Hi, is Lucas home?”_

_“Just a minute, please. Who, may I ask, is calling?”_

_“It’s Max.”_

_Ten seconds later._

_“Max? Lucas isn’t home right now. I think he’s left for the arcade.”_

_“Oh, okay. Thanks, I’ll try there. Bye.”_

_“Good-bye.”_

Without Lucas’s input, going to the arcade would be a gamble. But, even if he wasn’t there, it would help with part of the plan. The part where Caroline needed Max to get out of the house. To run. Max approached Billy’s door and raised her fist to knock. It was quiet. She hesitated. _What if he says no?_ She bit her lip and rapped on the door three times.

 _“What?!”_ Billy’s annoyed voice snapped from behind the closed door.

“Can I come in?”

“No.”

Max frowned. She looked at the next door over, wondering if Caroline had already completed her part yet.

“Well, can you take me to the arcade?” Max spoke louder, trying to hide the nervousness behind her request.

There was a quiet pause. _Did he hear me?_ Max contorted her face and brought her ear closer to the door, trying to gain awareness of what he was doing and if she should repeat the question out loud. After another few silent seconds, she loudly called out, “Billy?”

The door opened abruptly. Max stepped back so that it didn’t look like she was trying to eavesdrop. Billy already had on his boots and his dark brown leather jacket. He looked down at her feet, only covered in socks, and sighed with irritation.

“Well put your damn shoes on, then,” he ordered her gruffly.

Max’s mouth parted to say something, but she instead nodded her head and went to her room to get her shoes. _Luck is on my side today,_ Billy thought of the opportunity to be alone, yet again, with Caroline. He walked out of his room and immediately went into Caroline’s, closing the door behind him.

The curtains were drawn, and Caroline laid in bed. Covers were up to her chin. The room was dim but light enough to be able to see without having to turn on a lamp. Her eyes were closed, but she wasn’t asleep. At the sound of the intrusion, her eyes fluttered open.

Billy sat beside her and smiled. He hovered over her and lowly whispered. “I’m taking Max to the arcade. When I get back, we’re gonna have some fun, yeah?” Caroline looked up at him pathetically. “You’d better be here,” he warned her. She nodded her head in submission. He smiled and wagged his tongue along his bottom lip. “See you soon, _Caroline,”_ his voice deepened at her name.

They watched each other as he stood up. He chuckled at the look of panic in her eyes but continued out of her room, closing the door behind him. Caroline would wait until she heard the Camaro come to life and speed off before she would follow through with the next step in her plan.

Billy hollered for Max to get her ass outside. She complied without argument. Billy pulled the car keys from his jacket pocket and walked through the kitchen, the dining room, to the living room, when he stopped. He backed up and looked at the only phone in the house hanging on the wall. He wasn’t going to take any chances. He disconnected the curly cord from the receiver and the handset, wrapping it tightly around his hand until it was reduced to nothing but a jumbled ball. He tossed it under the couch, a place where he figured no one would think to look for such a thing. Then, he stepped outside and strolled to the car, a smirk on his face the entire time at what he had planned for when he returned.

Caroline held her breath and listened for the thunderous rumble of the Camaro’s engine. The tires squealed. She never thought she would see the day that she was thankful for Billy’s lead foot. She didn’t even have to go to the window to know that he was gone. But she would have to move fast. His lead foot also meant that five miles went fast, and she couldn’t afford to waste time.

Shoes already on her feet, she threw the covers from her body and retrieved the duffle bag of clothes from under her bed. It wasn’t much. Just enough for two full changes. But, it would be enough to get by. She slipped her denim jacket on, not bothering to free her hair from between her shirt and jacket. Next, she went to Max’s room and retrieved the bookbag by her desk. She peeked inside and saw that Max had stuffed a few clothing items in alongside her schoolbooks. There was enough room in the duffel bag to pack Max’s entire bookbag inside.

She carried it to the dining room and dropped it on the table. She went to the phone to call Steve. Lifting the handset, she realized that there was no cord. _Shit._ Her plan was foiled. Blood pumped faster through her body, warming her cheeks and her ears. The hand on the clock ticked incessantly, reminding her each second of the time that was running out. _Think._

Caroline rushed to the junk drawer and pulled out the copy of the white pages phonebook that had been in there when they moved in. It was for the entire county, but how many Harringtons could there possibly be in Hawkins? She flipped through the pages feverishly, her jittery fingers ripping pages along the way. She went too far, past the Hars and to the Hats. Backing up, her eyes skimmed the pages. Names blended together, and she internally yelled at herself to focus. _There._ Harrington. There were four in the county. Just one in Hawkins. _Yes._ She tore the page from the book and looked at the address. She thought she recognized the street name. Would probably be able to find it. She repeated the same procedure for _Sinclair_ , not bothering to count how many there were. She’d figure it out later. She returned the phonebook to the drawer so it wouldn’t draw his attention and provide a fast clue to where she went.

Folding the pieces of paper, she shoved them into her pocket. She hastily slung the long strap of the duffel bag over her shoulder and across her chest. It was heavy and uncomfortable, but she would have to tolerate it. Before she left out the backdoor, she snatched the paper from the refrigerator that had Aunt Jeanie’s house number scribbled on it. The force of the pull made the magnet that was holding it fling to the floor.

Caroline ran down the stairs of the back porch. She was in good shape, but the adrenaline from this time-limited escape stole the air from her lungs. Her bike was propped against the foundation of the house underneath the attached carport. She adjusted the strap of the duffel bag and swung her leg over to the pedal.

It was uncomfortable to sit on the triangular seat. She was sore. Every pedaling motion just seemed to rub her against the seat in a way that reminded her of exactly what she had endured that day. She cried. Bawled. Her vision blurred, and the cool air stung her face along the damp trails of her tears. She raised her forearm to her face, wiping her nose and drying her wet cheeks.

The sun was setting, and the sky was overcast. Everything around her was sheeted in a gray cloud. A pair of oncoming headlights momentarily scared her until she realized it wasn’t Billy’s car, and it was coming from the opposite direction of where Billy was. The car slowed down as they passed each other.

“Caroline?!” a friendly voice shouted, now behind her. _Steve._

Caroline stomped her foot backwards on the pedal, skidding to almost a stop on her bicycle at the sound of his voice. When she had slowed enough, she allowed her feet to drag along the road to bring herself to a complete stop. She looked behind her at the bright red brake lights of the maroon BMW.

“Steve!” she frantically screeched.

Caroline ditched her bicycle in the grass along the side of the road. In her haste, she hit her shin on the iron pedal. It hurt only momentarily but was the least of her worries. She ran towards the car. New tears formed along her waterline. The duffel bag shifted and bounced against her ruthlessly.

His window was already down, head halfway out the window. The expression on his face suggested that Caroline looked worse for wear.

“Oh my God,” he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door to step out. “Are you alright? What happened?”

Caroline threw herself into his arms, clenching her fingers around the sleek fabric of his gray jacket. She buried her face into his neck and cried. Steve hugged and held her, feeling her unsteadiness on her own feet. It was comforting, for his larger body to be holding hers so gently, so compassionately.

His little curly-haired male passenger looked on in shock but remained quiet.

“Wha—”

Caroline pulled away and looked into his kindhearted eyes. “I need to get out of here.”

Steve nodded his head, seeing the bandage on her cheek, and opened the backdoor. “Okay, get in.”

Caroline sat behind Steve and wiped at her face, noting that she was wiping foundation off on her hands. She tried to look in the rearview mirror at how much of herself was being revealed, but the angle wasn’t right. She looked over at the boy in the front passenger seat who looked to be about Max’s age.

He smiled and nodded at her and said, “Hey. I’m Dustin.”

Caroline sniffled and tried to offer a smile, but she didn’t think she was successful. “Caroline.”

Steve adjusted the rearview mirror to be able to see her better while he resumed driving. “Caroline, what happened? What is going on?”

She couldn’t repeat the things that had happened. Not to Steve. Not in front of some kid she just met. She couldn’t even say it to her own sister. It was too embarrassing.

“It’s Billy,” was all she managed to say.

“Billy,” Steve repeated without any major inflection. “What about Billy? What did he do?”

Caroline covered her face and cried. Steve and Dustin looked at each other. Dustin shrugged his shoulders and made a face that expressed he didn’t know what he or Steve should say or do. Steve returned the same look and opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but he didn’t know what words he should use.

“I can’t say it,” Caroline finally admitted. “But it’s bad, Steve.” Her crying became more intense. “It’s really, really bad.”

Steve felt a knot in his stomach. The thoughts running through his mind were of taboo things that he could easily see Billy committing. He had thought it strange how possessive Billy seemed of Caroline. He seemed more like a jealous boyfriend than a protective brother, or stepbrother. The story about the boy in California really put into perspective the kind of guy that Billy Hargrove was. The way she had described him as not having an off switch, not stopping until he gets what he wants only made the nauseating thought running through his head that much more plausible. He assumed the bag she had with her was clothes. That when she said she needed to get out of here, she literally meant she needed to escape. She needed to leave. She couldn’t go home.

“Should I—” Steve swallowed the lump in his throat. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No!” Caroline immediately interjected with protest, shaking her head vigorously. “No hospitals. _No hospitals_. They ask questions at hospitals. No—”

“Okay, hey, shhh,” Steve tried to soothe her. He moved his right arm back behind his seat to reach out to her. “No hospitals,” he repeated to assure her he would respect her wishes. “You’re okay now. Here, hold my hand,” he wiggled his fingers a few times to get her attention.

She gladly took it but hid her face in her other hand as she tried to bring herself back down.

Caroline took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself so that she could speak and sound somewhat okay. “I need to find Max. She said she was going to meet up with a kid named Lucas.”

Dustin twisted himself around to turn and look at her. “ _Max?”_ he echoed. “ _Mad_ Max?” he sounded a little excited. Caroline looked confused. “Mayfield?” he clarified, seeing the strange look that she was giving him. “You know,” Dustin twirled his finger beside his head, “red hair. California. _Totally tubular_ —”

“Yeah, I know who she is,” Caroline stopped him calmly. With a sniffle, she wiped her nose again and informed him, “She’s my sister.”

“Heh,” Dustin let out a little laugh through a half-crooked smile. “That’s awesome.”

Steve rolled his eyes and got back to Caroline. “Look, you can stay at my place, alright? For as long as you need,” Steve offered, gently squeezing her hand in his.

Dustin mumbled, “Provided that we’re still alive by the end of the night.”

Steve shot him a reprimanding glare at the insensitive words used while she was in such a distraught state. He hoped that she hadn’t heard him.

“Listen, Caroline. Um,” Steve cleared his throat. “We were on our way to do something. Something kind of—”

“Dangerous,” Dustin instantly jumped in.

 _Stupid,_ was more like it. Again, Steve rolled his eyes to his little friend as if to say _Come on, dude._ Caroline’s eyes shifted between the two of them as she saw Dustin’s face contort, eyes widen, jaw tense, mouth pucker. Sitting directly behind Steve, she couldn’t see his face, but seeing his head turn in the direction of the boy, she knew they were trying to communicate something in secret. The boy was quite animated in his facial expressions.

Steve sighed and looked at her in the mirror. “It could be pretty dangerous,” he finally admitted. Dustin nodded his head and drummed his fingers on his knees. Steve continued, “I think it would be a good idea if I take you someplace safe. I could take you back to my house. My parents aren’t home—”

“No,” Caroline disapproved of his offer. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Steve’s house would probably be one of the first places Billy would look. Might not be such a terrible thing if he and his parents were home. But, if he showed up when it was just Caroline, her face would likely end up on the back of a milk carton.

“Uh,” Steve groaned, trying to think of another situation that could keep her safe. “Okay, I’ll take you to Lucas’s. That’s where you said Max would be, right?”

Dustin sighed and rubbed his face. He spoke slowly. “I already told you. _Lucas. Isn’t. Home._ I couldn’t find _anybody._ Not him. Not _Mike._ ”

Caroline’s heart kicked against her chest at hearing that Lucas wasn’t home. Perhaps he was already at the arcade, waiting for Max. Caroline couldn’t risk going to the arcade right now. If they pulled in, and Billy was still there…

“Alright, alright,” Steve inadvertently tightened his grasp on Caroline’s hand, growing frustrated with Dustin and their lack of options. When he realized, he loosened the grip.

“Whatever it is you’re doing, it can’t be any worse than what I’ve already gone through,” Caroline suggested, not knowing what the boys were getting into. “I can handle it.”

“Oh, it could be worse,” Dustin nodded his head quickly and turned around to look at her. He shifted in his seat to lean closer, pointing his chin down and looking up at her, his eyes just barely visible beneath the bill of his hat. “ _A lot_ worse. Have you ever been face to face with a baby _Demogorgon_?!” His words got louder as the sentence went on until he was nearly yelling the word _Demogorgon._

Caroline’s face twisted in confusion. ”What the fu—”

“Dustin!” Steve raised his voice to a volume that demanded he shut up.

“Steve!” Dustin snapped back, raising his hands in the air. “If she’s coming with us, she needs to be brought up to speed!”

Steve tried to reason with him. “If they find out we’ve told—”

“There’s a baby Demogorgon on the loose! Telling her is the _least_ of our problems right now!”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the two boys. _What kind of weird shit are they getting into?_ Steve shook his head and retracted his hand from Caroline’s, running it through his hair while he thought.

“Fine,” Steve agreed. He took in a deep breath and glanced at her through the mirror. She had stopped crying and now looked bewildered. “What we’re about to tell you is going to sound… _unbelievably_ made up. But hear us out—”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've started another Billy fanfic in a slow burn category, where he's more of a lovable asshole and not the asshat that he is in this story. It's called "His Best Friend's Sister." Please check it out! :)


	18. Chapter 18

The Camaro came to a lurching halt. Not only was Billy’s foot lead on gas, it was also lead on the brake, too. Max slapped her hands onto the dashboard to keep herself from going through the windshield during the sudden stop. She grunted in irritation at his recklessness and shot him an ireful glance.

“Okay, we’re here. Don’t talk to anybody, don’t look at anybody. Now scram,” Billy ordered quickly, eyes still focused ahead of him. His hands twisted against the grip of the steering wheel, extracting little creeks and squeaks of the material grinding against his palms.

Max rolled her eyes, growing suspicious as to why he was in such a hurry to get rid of her and go back to the house. She shuddered and hoped that Caroline was making progress with the plan. She stepped out of the car.

“I’ll be back in an hour. Be ready,” he reminded her.

He started to drive away before she had even closed the door. She rushed to slam it shut, nearly losing her footing before flipping him the middle finger high in the air as he took off again on the main highway. He saw it in the rearview mirror and chuckled. She walked into the arcade, and his eyes were back on the road.

Billy was in a good mood. He turned the volume up and pounded his palms against the steering wheel in beat to Ted Nugent. Bobbing his head, he caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. His hair was falling a bit flat, likely due to all the sweat and _workouts_ he had today. He looked at himself and laughed, turning away to glance at the darkening road again. The sun was already past the tree line. It would likely be dark by the time he got back to Cherry Lane.

He returned his gaze back up to himself. His features were mature and sharp. He hardly looked like a teenage boy anymore. But, he sure had the stamina of one, that was for sure. There was a rugged, dangerous look about him. One that most girls, and even some older women, found alluring and irresistible. He grazed his tongue along his teeth and winked at himself in the mirror. How could any woman _not_ want this?

Max being out of the house put a lot of balls in his court. He and Caroline could be as loud as they wanted to be. He could fuck her six ways to Sunday. Anywhere he wanted. In her room. In his room. On the couch. In the shower. _In their parents’ bed. Ha!_ That would be a giant _fuck you_ to his cockblocking asshole of a father. His cock twitched at the memory of his dream the other night. Maybe he would get Caroline to reenact his dream. _Fuck, that would be hot._

He rubbed at himself absentmindedly through his jeans while he recalled the details. How he had been laying on his weight bench with Caroline between his legs, sucking his cock like a Goddamn Hoover. The little strip tease, slipping out of those black lace panties from under her skirt. Tossing that lacey bra into the other room. Bending over the dining room table where everyone eats every day. Ass wiggling and inviting him to join her. _Shit._

Billy wondered if she really had those lacey lingerie items. He never did laundry. That was Susan’s job. He wouldn’t know what Caroline had or what she didn’t anymore. There were few opportunities to root through her drawers unnoticed. His jerk off material had long since been smacked out of his hands that one time Neil caught him masturbating in her bedroom back in California. He hadn’t been daring enough to try that again. But, that was two years ago. A girl could develop new tastes and buy new items in that time. Based on his own experience from yesterday and today, her underwear was pretty plain looking. Pure. Innocent. Not exactly sexy. Definitely not the kind of undergarments one wears when looking to get laid. He decided that ultimately, it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be in them for long anyway. He could make do.

He parked the car and sauntered into the house with the satisfaction of knowing he was about to get his dick wet for the fourth time that day alone. He locked the door behind him and kicked off his boots. He removed his jacket and tossed it on his father’s recliner.

“Honey!” he sarcastically hollered for Caroline. “I’m home!”

He listened for her to come out of her room. Except, she didn’t. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Perhaps she had fallen back asleep. After all, he had kept her up all day after she had a rather restless night. Hell, _he_ was tired from all the sex, but he was always up for more.

Leisurely, he trekked through the house. He listened for whines or whimpers. It was a sick admission, but he loved hearing those noises come from her. Loved it even more when he was plowing into her and they became louder and less voluntary. The air was still as he approached her door. He smirked and licked his lips, placing his ear against the door and listening for any last-minute scampering. Raising his hand, he scratched his fingernails against the wood, sounding like an animal clawing to get in. _Nothing._

He opened the door slowly, enjoying the amount of anxiety and fear that he knew these long, drawn out actions created. As he entered the room, though, he saw that it was empty. He hastily stepped inside and looked around. The covers were thrown out of place, like she had gotten up in a hurry. He stomped off to Max’s room, sending the door flying open and banging against the wall. He stepped inside. Caroline wasn’t there, either. Like a tornado, he torrented through every room of the house. She was nowhere to be found.

Rage started to boil within him. He had explicitly told her to be here. And she disobeyed him, yet again. He huffed and puffed, puckering his mouth into a tight expression to keep him from screaming out, from blowing the house down. He ran his hands through his hair as he blustered back into the kitchen. _Where the fuck did she go?_ He dragged his hand down over his face and roughly rubbed over his mouth, stretching his jaw with an audible _click_. He looked down and saw the apple shaped magnet laying on the floor in front of the refrigerator.

He knelt and picked it up. He turned it over in his hand to see that it still had the magnetic circle superglued to it. It hadn’t simply just fallen off the fridge. It had been knocked or forced off the fridge. He stood up and looked at the refrigerator door. It was then that he noticed the slip of paper with the phone number to Susan’s Aunt Jeanie’s house was missing.

Not only was Caroline gone, so was the contact number for their parents. Panic set in as he thought about Caroline calling them, spilling every piece of information she could from the safety of some unknown location. With Max also out of the house. He imagined his father taking the first flight back to Indianapolis. He chucked the magnet hard, breaking it into two pieces when it crashed and bounced violently against the floor.

 _“Shit,”_ he hissed, running back to the living room to put his boots and coat back on. 

* * * * *

Heads turned and gawked at Billy as he tramped out of the car. He had nearly hit a kid when he flew into the parking space. Someone was mouthing off to him in the distance about his driving, but he ignored them. He forcefully opened the swinging glass door to the arcade and stepped inside.

Nerds everywhere. Little gangly kids with acne and glasses, eyes enthralled by the graphics of a scantily clad cartoon bimbo on screen. It was probably the closest they would ever get to a set of tits like that. _Smells like virgins in here._ Beeps and clicks and jingles echoed throughout the small arcade. Chants and cheers at a few game machines drew his attention. He looked over, half expecting to see Max playing at one of the games, but it was just some chubby kid with coke-bottle glasses.

He stamped quickly through the narrow aisles of game systems, bumping against young patrons and searching for the familiar glow of red hair. But, he didn’t see her anywhere. It had barely been a half hour since he had dropped her off, and it seemed that this little bitch was also going behind his back and doing shit she shouldn’t be doing. He would make good on his promise to make her unrecognizable when he got his hands on her.

Billy approached the front desk where he saw a tall, lanky teen attendant staring back at him like he didn’t belong there. _He didn’t_. _Freak City._ The guy had shoulder length, thick dark hair and a long face like a horse. His hand was buried inside a bag of Cheetos. Orange dust garnished the purple shirt where he had dragged his dirty fingers after popping a cheesy puff into his mouth.

“Hey, spaz,” Billy’s voice was stern as he impatiently slapped his hand down twice on the main kiosk to get the kid’s attention. “I’m looking for my stepsister, Maxine. You seen her?”

The teen rolled his eyes. “Keith,” he concisely responded.

“What?” Billy squinted.

“The name’s Keith,” he answered with little inflection in his voice. He had been made fun of all his life. A skid mark like Billy Hargrove didn’t intimidate him. Not anymore.

“Right,” Billy apathetically stared at him. “My stepsister,” he got back to the reason for his visit. “You seen her?” Keith shrugged, outwardly indifferent in assisting Billy. “Long red hair, attitude problem, doesn’t listen for shit.”

“Oh, you mean _Road Warrior_ ,” Keith’s voice picked up a hint of excitement as he munched on another Cheeto. _MADMAX._

Billy shrugged his shoulders and shook his head with a look on his face that asked _What the fuck are you talking about._

“Afraid you just missed her,” Keith continued, chewing with his mouth open. “Road Warrior galloped off into the sunset with her dark knight.”

Billy stepped forward and arched his eyebrow. “The fuck are you talking about?”

Keith rolled his eyes. These cool kids thought they were really something, but they needed everything to be spelled out for them like idiots. “ _Sinclair_. She left with Sinclair.”

“Sinclair,” Billy repeated with a shrug. Like he should know the name.

“Do you not know anything about your stepsister’s life?” Keith annoyingly asked. Billy gave him the incensed look that Neil always gave to him. _The warning look._ “ _Lucas_ Sinclair,” Keith spelled it out for him.

_Ahh. The black kid that she was arguing with that one day in the school parking lot._

“Right. This Lucas Sinclair. You know where he lives?” Billy sighed loudly.

Keith was becoming extremely fed up with the amount of questions that this guy was asking. “Listen, George Michael.” Billy’s eyes narrowed and he tensed his jaw. “Do I _look_ like a phonebook?”

This kid was getting on Billy’s last nerve. He had half a notion to reach across that little desk and wrap his hands around that long neck until he no longer breathed life. He ran his tongue across his teeth and then… _Phonebook._ Now that wasn’t a bad idea. He could forget the _Wham!_ insult for the time being. Not enough time for another ass-kicking right now. First, he needed to track down Max.

Billy smirked. “Say, you got a phonebook back there?”

Keith nodded his head to the corner of the room where two payphone stalls were located. “Over there.”

Billy turned his head to glance at where Keith had motioned and saw the payphones with a phonebook chained to the countertop between the phones. He looked back at Keith again, who was staring at him, unimpressed, and still chewing on his Cheetos. Billy knocked on the countertop rather than offered a verbal thanks and headed over to the phones.

He flipped through the phonebook until he reached the Sinclairs. _Son of a bitch, there’s a lot of Sinclairs in here._ Five in Hawkins alone. A ton in the county. Billy knew he wouldn’t be able to memorize the addresses, so he looked around him to see if anyone was looking and tore the Sinclair page from the book. He shoved it in his pocket and made his way back to the car.

* * * * *

The first Sinclair house had been a bust. An elderly Caucasian couple who grumbled about their evening meal being interrupted by some punk with an earring and a loud car. The old man had reprimanded him for being half-naked and asked him if he knew how to button a shirt, continuing to complain about the disrespectful youth these days as Billy backtracked to the car. Billy chuckled, only once he got back in his Camaro. He made sure to rev the engine a few times for good measure, filling the air with a robust smell of exhaust. When he left their paved driveway, he ensured that he stepped on the gas pedal hard enough to leave a black burnout mark and a fog of gas fumes behind.

The second Sinclair house, no one was home. He should have paid better attention to the addresses rather than going alphabetically through the list, because he ended up going back across town, past the first old-fart Sinclair house when he went to check out the third. Unfortunately, the third Sinclair house was not the correct one, either. A middle-aged, heavy set woman had answered the door. She seemed apprehensive in Billy’s search for his _dear, sweet, sister Maxine._ Probably thought he was lying and looking for a girlfriend that had ran off with another guy. _Fuck you, bitch,_ he thought to himself as he went back to the car after she told him for the second time to get off her property before she called the police.

Knowing that he had to again backtrack past Sinclair number one, he pressed the gas harder, flying past old man Sinclair and giving him a middle finger. _Old fucker probably couldn’t even see it._ He laughed at how he and the wife were in the driveway beneath the bright light that hung over their garage door, looking to be arguing over the black rubber marks staining their pristine driveway.

Now, he looked up at the two-story house at which he had just parked. The lights were on and the car in the single-lane driveway alluded that someone was home. He just hoped it was the _right_ someone. He stepped out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. At least if this wasn’t the correct Sinclair house, there was only one more left to check in Hawkins. He stood a fifty/fifty chance of this house being it.

A few seconds after ringing the doorbell, a little African American girl opened the door and stared up at him. _So far, this seems promising._ Her hair was parted into two high, fluffy pigtails. Compared to Billy, she was quite small. He guessed she was maybe eight-years-old. She didn’t quite pucker her lips all the way, but her face definitely appeared rigid and suggested that she was in some sort of a mood. Her one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Hey, there, little girl,” Billy bent down to be more eye level with her, placing his hands on his knees for support. “Is your Mommy home?”

The girl curled her lip in disgust at him and turned her head to shout. “Mom! Some weirdo with an earring is at the door!”

Billy stood up straight and glared at the back of the little girl’s head. She walked away when she saw her mother come into view. Billy made sure to clear the aggravated look from his face and replaced it with his smooth smile and soft eyes.

The mother reprimanded her quietly and told her to go back to her room. The woman was dressed is a flowy silk blouse tucked into a knee-length black pencil skirt, showing off her hourglass figure. Her hair was short but stylish and volumized. She was attractive, for a mom.

“I am _so, so_ sorry about that,” Mrs. Sinclair gave an apologetic and mortified look at what her daughter had so brashly announced in front of the young man standing at their front door.

Billy chuckled and breezily waved his arm. “Ah. She’s a cute kid.” _She’s a brat._

“How can I help you?” she asked with a polite smile.

“Hi, I’m Billy. Billy Hargrove,” he extended his hand for a handshake.

She accepted his greeting, and he warmly covered her hand with his other hand, holding it between both of his— the way he always did when he was trying to charm women— although he didn’t really have to _try_ very hard. She giggled behind closed lips, and he could tell from the way she smiled and shook her head that her cheeks (and maybe a few other places) were feeling hot.

“I’m, uh,” he said as she slipped her hand away from his. He placed his hands back into his jacket pockets. “I’m sorry to bother you unannounced like this, but I’m actually looking for my—” _look like a good, concerned sibling… not like you’re going to murder her later._ “—sister, Maxine. She’s been missing all afternoon, and to be quite honest, I’ve been worried sick. I thought she mentioned something earlier about going to Lucas’s house.”

Mrs. Sinclair shook her head, unaware of who he was talking about.

“Gee, I sure hope I have the right house. This _is_ Lucas Sinclair’s house. Isn’t it?” he asked innocently.

“Yes,” Mrs. Sinclair nodded her head and fidgeted with her necklace. “Um. But Lucas isn’t home right now.”

Billy sighed, not meaning to show his agitation with another house that led to absolutely nothing. He looked down at his feet to hide his face until he could convince himself to calm down, shuffling back and forth on the cement porch.

“Oh, wait a minute. _Max._ She did call here earlier today asking for Lucas.” Billy perked up and smiled at her. “He wasn’t home then either. I told her that he might have been at the arcade. Kids these days,” she chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. “I feel like I hardly see him anymore unless it’s before school or meatloaf night.”

Again, another useless piece of information that led to absolutely nothing. Except for the fact that Max calling Lucas earlier proved that she _planned_ this disappearance. Billy unknowingly shook his head, feeling like a fool for allowing Max and Caroline to be in the same room together when he brought her home after school. _They_ planned this. It was no coincidence, them both disappearing. They had played him like a fiddle.

“I actually just came from the arcade. She wasn’t there.” Billy stepped forward and spoke in a low volume, removing his hands from his pocket to prop one up against the doorframe, close to Mrs. Sinclair’s face. “I wouldn’t usually ask for someone to share this information, especially with a stranger,” he smiled warmly and glanced down at her plump lips. It worked just about every time. “But I’m _really_ worried about her. Just trying to find her to make sure she’s okay, ya know?” His eyes travelled back up to her half-dazed eyes. “Do you know of anywhere else she or Lucas might be?”

“Well,” Mrs. Sinclair cleared her throat nervously as she thought. She caught a whiff of his cologne, and it smelled lovely, although a tad strong. “There’s really only two places Lucas tends to frequent the most. The arcade or Mike’s house.”

“Mike!” Billy said as if he had forgotten. “Of course. Um. What’s Mike’s last name again?”

“Wheeler,” she smiled and willingly gave the name, twirling her gold, delicate chain between long fingers.

“Wheeler,” Billy repeated slowly with a nod. He knew that name. He lowered his hand from the doorframe and took a step back. “Any relation to… _Nancy_ Wheeler?”

“Uh,” Mrs. Sinclair narrowed her eyes, unsure why that mattered. “I think he has a sister named Nancy, yes.”

Nancy wasn’t exactly someone who was Billy’s cup of tea. Kind of a goody-two-shoes, from what he could see. Recent girlfriend of Steve Harrington. The whore that ran off with that weird kid, Byers, and left Harrington as an open agent for Caroline to try and swoop in on. _Well, maybe not such a goody-two-shoes after all._ Who was he kidding, though? Billy could charm the pants off anyone. Nancy wouldn’t be an issue, if it came to that.

Mrs. Sinclair saw the minor twitches and twists of his face as he appeared to think. “The Wheelers are good people,” she assured Billy with a soft smile. “If she’s over there, she’s in good hands.”

Billy looked up and realized that his face was thinking out loud. He flashed a toothy smile and allowed his facial muscles to relax.

“Great,” Billy chuckled, placing his hand over his heart. He rubbed his fingers under his shirt against warm, bare skin. Mrs. Sinclair skimmed down briefly and then made eye contact again. “What a relief. Uh, you know we only just moved here a few weeks ago. Neither one of us are too terribly familiar with town yet. You wouldn’t happen to know their address, would you?”

* * * * *

He was going to kill Max twice. Once for running off and disobeying him, and again for making him run his car all over town, wasting half a tank of gas just to track her ass down. She’d be sorry. So would Caroline when she saw her next, all disfigured and hanging on to life by a string. Wheeler’s house was just down the road from Sinclair’s, but it was an unnecessary pain in his ass.

He stood at the front door and rang the doorbell again, growing impatient. He had already rung the bell five fucking times with no response. There were lights on upstairs in the Wheeler house. Someone had to be home. Maybe Max was in there and they were scrambling to find a hiding spot. He pushed the doorbell again and again, in quick succession. Whoever was in there ignoring him could go ahead and be annoyed by the incessant ringing until they answered. He wasn’t going to go away until someone opened the damn door.

Billy sighed and looked away, thinking about what else he could do, where else he could look. If his search for Max ended up being fruitless, he would turn his attention to Caroline. If he was a betting man, he’d put money down that Caroline was probably at Harrington’s house. _Should have grabbed that little faggot’s name out of the phonebook, too._

The door flew open. Billy looked, expecting to see Nancy, but he instead saw a gorgeous older woman wearing a dark velour bathrobe. She had hair similar to Caroline. Light brown with hints of blonde streaked throughout, long and slightly wavy. Probably dyed to look that way, not natural like Caroline’s California sun-kissed hair. _Damn. Hawkins has some decent looking moms._

Judging by the damp tendrils that hung the lowest and the outfit she currently displayed, she likely had just gotten out of the bathtub. _That explains the delay in answering the door._ He smiled at the thought that she probably wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath that plush material. He recalled the first time he had fucked Caroline, how she had been in her bathrobe. The thought excited him.

“Oh,” he said pleasantly delighted with the appearance of the woman who answered. He wasn’t shy about her seeing his eyes travel to her chest and back up to her face. “Hi.”

“Hi,” her pitch confirmed that she was taken aback by the sight at her front door. She looked down at her chest and felt self-conscious and embarrassed for someone of the opposite sex to see her like that. She briefly covered her chest with her hand before fidgeting around, trying not to draw too much attention to it.

“I, uh,” Billy smiled and batted his eyelashes, “didn’t realize Nancy had a sister.”

The woman scoffed and looked away. She looked back at him, blush blooming on her cheeks, as she bit her lip to hold back another laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Billy charmingly asked.

The woman rolled her eyes bashfully and disclosed, “I’m Nancy’s _mother_.”

Billy did his best to sound like he was in disbelief. “No.”

Of course, he knew she was Nancy’s mother. She had a good twenty years or so on him, but _damn,_ she was hot. He’d fuck her in an instant if she asked. From behind, with that hair, he bet she would resemble Caroline. Probably wouldn’t feel as tight though. Not after having at least two kids. That never stopped him before from a quick lay with a single mom, though. _Pussy’s pussy._

“Yes,” she chuckled, twirling her hair and biting her lip like a flirtatious teenage girl.

“Mrs. Wheeler,” Billy smiled and sang her praises.

She realized she was at a disadvantage, not knowing who he was or what he wanted. “Um, I’m sorry. And, and you are?”

“Billy,” he extended his hand for a handshake. She placed her hand in his, so dainty and docile. He would probably snap her like a twig in the sack. He cupped his other hand on top of hers, just as he had done to Mrs. Sinclair, enveloping her hand in a warm and gentle embrace. “Billy Hargrove.”

The name didn’t sound familiar, but he obviously knew Nancy. Probably here to ask her on a date. “And you must be here for Nancy?”

“Nancy? No, no, not my type.”

Her heart shouldn’t have, but it fluttered at that. She wondered if _she_ was his type. He _certainly_ could be her type. At this point, anyone but Ted could be her type. It had been years since Ted looked at her the way this boy was looking at her, like she was prime rib. And years since Ted had been as pleasing to the eye, as well.

“Uh, no, actually, I am looking for my little sister Max. Goes by _Maxine,_ ” he offered a secondary name, as the look of unfamiliarity on her face at the mentioning of _Max_ told him that she had no clue who the little shit was. “She’s been missing all day, and, uh, to be honest with ya, I’ve been worried sick. Ya know?”

Mrs. Wheeler offered a soft, sympathetic smile. She was eating his bullshit and begging for seconds. He dropped his voice in volume and pitch, adding a charitable level of seductiveness to the conversation.

“I thought she was at Lucas’s, but Mrs. Sinclair said _your_ house is the—” he smiled when he caught her eyes watching his lips “—the designated hangout, so, you know…” He leaned his arm up against the doorframe, close to her face just as he had done with Mrs. Sinclair, and looked down at Mrs. Wheeler through his long lashes. “Here I am,” he rasped and tilted his head.

Mrs. Wheeler caught herself staring too long without a response. He glanced down at her robe, at the space between her breasts. They looked to be smaller than Caroline’s, but a handful at any rate. She looked down at her robe and giggled, fretfully placing her hand over the material to draw the pieces of her robe closer together. He looked back up at her face and licked his lips enticingly.

“Um, well,” Mrs. Wheeler shook her head but could not stop herself from smiling. “She’s right that usually, on most nights, we have a full house here. But, uh, Mike and his friends aren’t here tonight.”

Billy’s smirk died down into an irritated frown, but he did his best not to let it show in front of Mrs. Wheeler. “I’ve been looking for her all evening,” Billy played up his worry for the little bitch. “We’re, uh, pretty new in town, and we don’t really know the area well. I’m really worried about her.”

He did his best to show sad, puppy dog eyes. It must have worked. She placed her hand over her chest and mumbled _poor thing_ and looked sad for him.

“Mike _did_ mention something about Will today. They sometimes meet up and play at Will’s house,” Mrs. Wheeler offered.

“Will?” Billy really knew nothing about Max’s life or her friends. He wondered how many more names would be thrown out tonight. How many more houses there would be to check.

“Will Byers. Little boy who went missing last year,” she rambled on about how awful the experience had been, but he stopped listening. He didn’t care.

 _Byers._ He knew enough of the story. More interesting was how everyone on this fucking search was so interconnected. Byers. Johnathan Byers. The kid that her whore daughter was supposedly shacking up with.

He smiled. “It’s worth a try. You know, _anything_ for Max. You wouldn’t happen to have their address, would you?”

Mrs. Wheeler smiled and batted her eyelashes. “Of course. Please, come in.”

She stepped aside and waved her hand, welcoming him across the threshold with the enthusiasm of a sex-starved Barbie doll. Billy briefly considered if he would get more than an address out of this visit. He followed Mrs. Wheeler into the kitchen, where she retrieved a little address book out of a drawer along with a pen and notepad.

Billy looked around at his immediate surroundings. “Nice place you have here.”

He really wasn’t a fan of the overuse of wood paneling. It made the house look darker than what it was. He preferred open spaces. His house in California had bright walls. Even the house on Cherry Lane had light colored walls in most of the rooms. Made it seem more welcoming. However, chicks dig compliments.

“Oh, thank you,” she tittered while she flipped through the pages of the little address book. “Uh, they’re more on the outskirts of town, closer to the quarry.” She informed him as she leaned over, searching for the page she needed. Her cleavage was more visible. Billy smirked at the sight.

The downstairs was fairly dark except for the kitchen, and the house was quiet. He caught a glimpse of the highchair at the dining table. _Christ. Three kids._ “Is it just you and the kids here?”

“Uh, yes,” Mrs. Wheeler said, locating the page with Joyce Byers’ phone number and address. “Well, uh, and my, uh… husband,” she stammered.

 _A husband. Of course._ “And he’s left you all alone tonight?” Billy smirked at the redness of her cheeks.

“Oh,” Mrs. Wheeler giggled and shook her head. “No, no, he’s… somewhere around here. Usually is, in the evenings.”

 _Bummer._ “Lucky man.”

Billy leaned his elbow on the orange countertop of the kitchen island and smirked at her when she looked up and giggled again. He saw a cookie jar and knew how much Mrs. Wheeler enjoyed looking at his mouth. He figured he’d put it to work, maybe tempt her with a preview of what she could have if Mr. Wheeler ever took an evening to himself.

“May I?” he boldly pointed at the cookie jar.

Mrs. Wheeler looked up and nodded. “Please, help yourself.”

She had started to write the address but paused and watched as he took a cookie from the jar and brought it up to his lips. She bit down on her own lip when he audibly moaned with satisfaction and told her that it was so good. He slowly extended the tip of his tongue out and licked his bottom lip to catch a few crumbs that had fallen there.

She snapped out of it, recognizing that she had been ogling him. _Ted is in the next room for God’s sake, Karen._ She resumed writing the Byers’ address.

“Their driveway is pretty dark this time of night.” She smiled and held out the piece of paper for Billy to take. “So drive slowly,” she tried to resume her role of wife and mother, to draw herself back in.

Billy gently took the paper between his index and middle finger, looking up from her breasts when she handed the paper to him. He smiled and huskily answered, “Always.”

“And, when you see Mike, tell him to come home already, okay?” Mrs. Wheeler sweetly requested.

 _Not a chance. If I see Max, I’m dragging her out by the hair and the rest of those little fuckers can all just fuck off._ “You’re a real life-saver, you know that?” Billy grinned and took another bite of the dry cookie, staring into her eyes with immoral intentions.

Mrs. Wheeler blushed and closed her eyes for a lengthy blink. She looked back up at him and bashfully breathed, “Anytime.”

 _She wants me._ At least Billy knew he had some options in this town that weren’t complete cows. Maybe Mrs. Wheeler could suck his dick and he could top off the night by having Caroline ride him.

“I’ll see ya later,” Billy pushed himself away from the island and walked past Mrs. Wheeler towards the front door.

He smiled after he walked past her. It took all he had not to break out into a fit of laughter at the thoughts he was having. He bet beneath that plush robe Mrs. Wheeler was probably soaking wet. She would probably need another bath to take care of herself. He let himself out, not bothering to look behind him at Mrs. Wheeler and the puddle of drool and arousal dripping at her feet.

Billy looked down at the address as he walked to his car, not too terribly familiar with the street name. He knew the area around the quarry well enough. He could probably find it if he kept his eyes peeled.

Getting into his car, he tossed the piece of paper on the passenger seat. He wiggled in the seat to get comfortable and turned the key in the ignition. _Fucking Max._ He had promised himself that he would give up if this house turned out to be more of nothing. _Just one more_ , he told himself. He had told Caroline he’d break Max’s arm, and he was going to fucking do it.

 _Drive slowly. Pfft. No one told him what to do. Not even hot moms._ He shifted into gear and slammed his foot on the gas. The Wheeler house disappeared in his rearview mirror as he drove towards the end of town. It was completely dark out, a little difficult to see street names. He was surrounded by woods. Imagined that there were plenty of places he could ditch Max’s body if it ever came to that. Hawkins, after all, seemed to have a propensity for missing kids.

Max probably knew where Caroline was. To throw him off, he was sure that they had separated with later plans to reunite. He would need to make sure he didn’t rough her up too badly before she had the chance to share that information. She probably wouldn’t tell him right away. A broken arm and a busted lip might be enough to make her talk. He had never really hit Max before. He had pushed her into the wall a few times, squeezed her arm and her wrist until she squealed, but never truly did any physical damage. Caroline was always fast to intervene, to protect her and take her place. He didn’t know what Max’s breaking point was. But, he was going to find out tonight.

Once he tracked down Caroline, he’d be sure to make it a night she would never forget. He’d end up putting Max in the hospital. Easy enough to claim that the broken arm was a result of her adventurous nature. Maybe she fell on her skateboard. After all, her _carelessness_ had resulted in her having an _accident_ in which _she_ broke her board. Trying to skate on a broken board was dangerous, and it ended up hurting her even further. Or maybe she’d had an accident trying to climb rocks at the quarry. He chuckled at the possibilities. It would be too easy.

With Max in the hospital, he and Caroline would have the house to themselves. He’d rough her up, too, but not so much that she wouldn’t be able to take a good fucking. He’d hump her ‘til his balls ran dry. He’d fill her up to the point that cum would be dripping down her leg any time she stood. _To hell with condoms._ He’d fuck a baby into her so she would be reminded every day of who owns her. And the baby would look like him, too. She could move to the farthest corner of the earth, and every day, she would see _him._

The thought alone was getting him hard. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the pack of cigarettes, hastily putting one between his lips to calm him down. He lit it and sucked in a deep inhalation. The more he thought about Caroline, the harder he sucked his cigarette. And, if she just so happened to be at _King Steve’s_ house, well… he’d put Steve in the morgue.

Billy glanced up at a green street sign and slammed on the brakes. _That’s the one._ He put the car in reverse and speedily backed up on the empty road, tires screeching again when he hit the brakes to put it back into forward motion. He turned hard and traveled down the road, searching for the number that was written on the paper. He found it. Not too far. He turned onto a narrow lane, dirt and gravel, trees on either side.

The driveway was rather long. As he turned the bend into a clearing, a little rundown ranch house came into view. A lamppost dully lit up the little yard out front. An unknown car was in the driveway and there was yellow light glowing through the front window by the door. His foot pumped the gas a few times to rev the engine, excited at the thought of finding Max and dragging her out of the house where she probably thought she was far away and safe from him.

The car skidded as he came to a stop. He turned off the engine, killed the lights. Put the keys in the pocket of his jeans. He opened the door, taking another deep puff of his cigarette. Light flooded out onto the porch when the front door opened, catching his attention. Billy’s movement slowed for just a second as he narrowed his eyes to view the figure on the porch. Even in the shadows and cover of night, he would recognize that mountain of hair anywhere. _This night just keeps getting better and better._

Billy stomped his foot onto the gravelly ground and pushed himself up to stand, taking another satisfying puff from his cigarette. He placed one hand on the roof of his car and used his other to lower the cigarette from his mouth. He rested his hand on the open car door in front of him, tapping the cigarette in his fingers, and smirked at the person on the front porch. Smoke billowed from his lips as he spoke.

“Am I dreaming,” Billy called out, an electrical current travelling through his limbs, begging for release, “or is that you, Harrington?”


	19. Chapter 19

Caroline grimaced at the cold, sticky slime squishing between her fingers as she helped Steve shove that… _thing…_ into the Byers’ refrigerator. He had most of it wrapped in a blanket, but its head had gotten stuck, offering some resistance as Steve struggled to store it. It was at Dustin’s urging that it be kept chilled, in the name of science.

“Help us out?” Steve spoke over his shoulder with a huff of annoyance.

“What am I supposed to do?” Dustin asked, seeing as how Steve and Caroline already seemed to be taking care of things.

“The door, man. Get the door,” Steve advised, widening his stance for better leverage to push.

Dustin shuffled over to the refrigerator door quickly. Steve went to back away from the dead monster so that Dustin could close the door, but its heavy body flopped and started to fall out of the confined space.

“Jesus,” Steve mumbled as he and Caroline hurried to push it back inside while Dustin forced the door closed.

Once the door was shut, the three of them sighed. Steve rubbed the top of Dustin’s head as if to say _good job._ Caroline leaned against the refrigerator door, touching her fingers together and observing in disgust at how the tacky substance stretched between her fingers. It looked like a massive sheet of transparent snot. She rubbed her hands on her jeans.

“Here,” Steve motioned her over to the sink. He turned on the faucet for her and squirted a generous amount of dish soap into her hands.

“Thanks,” Caroline’s face seemed to be stuck in a disgusted scowl until the goo was all gone.

Steve handed her a dish towel to dry her hands. She did so and handed it back to him, which he slung over his shoulder. Glancing down at the giant gash in the belly of her shirt, she inspected the skin beneath it. A minor scratch. She had been lucky. Just a case of the wrong place at the wrong time when the lifeless body of that interdimensional dog-like thing had come crashing through the window and its claw grazed her.

Steve leaned against the sink beside her, gently nudging her arm with his elbow. She glanced up at him and gave a sad smile. She was a fighter, in more ways than one. He had seen that tonight.

“You okay?” he asked.

_No._

She nodded her head, afraid that if she spoke she would tell the truth. Again. On their walk to the junkyard earlier that evening, he had been gentle and patient with her while Dustin walked several paces ahead of them. She didn’t exactly go into detail about what Billy had done, but she had said enough that made it clear. She had explained where Mom and Neil really were. How this whole situation seemed to happen. How it wasn’t safe for her and Max to go back until their parents returned. That she didn’t want to go to the police because she knew what the courts did to people in situations like _this_.

When they got picked up at the lab later by the chief of police— well… it was just another cherry on top. Hopper had recognized her. In the midst of everything else going on, though, they didn’t really have time to catch up. Before he and that little girl, Eleven, left the Byers’ house, he had tenderly pulled Caroline aside to check on her and told her, _‘We’ll talk later.’_

“Yeah, I, um,” Caroline brushed her hair behind her ears and stepped away from the sink, “I just… I need to go to the bathroom.”

Steve nodded and directed her somewhere down the hall behind the living room where there seemed to be a minor argument occurring. Dustin vivaciously corrected the rest of the kids with the apparently correct term, _“Demodog!”_

Caroline closed the bathroom door behind her. She didn’t really need to use the toilet. She just needed a moment of peace. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes, hearing muffled arguments coming from the living room.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would ever see the things that she had seen on this night. Steve and Dustin’s story had been far-fetched. A tale of faceless monsters that lusted after blood. Missing kids in an alternate dimension that overlapped with their own. A little girl with mind powers— the product of Hawkins Lab experiments— that could make people fly and bullies piss their pants. Caroline had started to wonder if she would have been better off alone that night, as she had found herself surrounded by crazy.

That was, until she saw Max and Lucas and the rest of Dustin’s _party_ , as he called them, feverishly building a bunker out of an old abandoned school bus and rusted sheet metal. And then she heard the noise, somewhere between a howl and a screech. The way its faceless head opened like a blooming flower to reveal rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth had finally convinced her that it was all real. Monsters were _real._ Something that she already knew to be true, having lived with one; but these were ­­ _monster-_ monsters.

Caroline walked over to the sink and fleetingly looked at her face in the mirror. She turned on the cold water and ran her hands under it, allowing water to pool so that it could be splashed on her face. It woke her up, alerted her.

Staring at her face in the mirror, she shifted to look at her bruised cheek peeking through patches of makeup that barely clung on. Caroline didn’t know what she was going to say to the chief when he returned. She supposed it would depend on what he asked. Turning the water off, she leaned her hands against the sink and bowed her head. She didn’t have the energy to think right now. She just needed enough to survive until this was all over. She used the hand towel to pat her face dry and then walked over to the door.

 _“Does everybody understand that?”_ Steve’s strict voice was muffled from behind the door. Caroline walked out of the bathroom, hearing some protests from one of the boys before another firm, “I said does everybody understand that?!”

Caroline stepped into the room, feeling tension in the air from a heated disagreement. Mike rolled his eyes and looked like he wanted to say something further but didn’t. The other kids, including Max, seemed to be at odds with whatever Steve had just told them. They all stared at him with tensed faces.

“I need a _yes_ ,” Steve waved the dishtowel in his hand.

Caroline’s heart stopped at the sound of Billy’s Camaro rumbling down the driveway. Her eyes widened in disbelief. _How would he know to look here?_ They were in the middle of nowhere, at a classmate’s house that neither one of them really knew. Max quickly turned to look at her, eyes just as wide, before doing an about face and running to the window. Lucas joined her. Dustin shot a look to Steve, then Caroline, then back to Steve.

Max confirmed what Caroline already knew. “It’s our stepbrother.” She shook her head and faced Lucas. “He can’t know we’re here. He’ll kill me.” Max’s panicked face looked back at Caroline.

Caroline’s hand shot out to grab Steve’s wrist. He looked at her ghost-white face. “He’ll kill _us,”_ Caroline rattled.

Steve looked around the room at all the kids that he had promised to protect while Hopper took Eleven to close the gate. He turned and grabbed both of Caroline’s shoulders, jostling her ever so slightly. “I’ll handle Billy. You stay here and watch the kids. Can you do that?”

“Steve—” Caroline’s eyes welled with tears. Billy was dangerous, and he knew about Caroline’s date with Steve. It was the straw that had broken the camel’s back. Billy would kill him, if given the opportunity. And right now, opportunity was presenting itself.

He crashed his lips to hers for a slow, rather chaste kiss. It didn’t feel romantic. But it felt safe. It felt reassuring. When he pulled away, she nodded her head that she could do it. He nodded back to her and turned toward the door.

“Guys, get away from the window,” Caroline put her hand on her forehead and paced to the kitchen.

Steve stepped outside, cautious to not open the door too wide to reveal Caroline’s presence inside. The bright headlights of the Camaro that had temporarily blinded him shut off. Steve walked to the end of the wooden porch and placed his hands on his hips, waiting for Billy to step out of the car. He saw Billy pause momentarily when getting out of the car, obviously surprised to see him here. It was unexpected.

“Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?” Billy’s deep voice called out into the cold night air still charged with electricity and the looming threat of another attack.

“Yeah, it’s me. Don’t cream your pants,” Steve did his best to sound indifferent, but inside he was boiling, knowing what a piece of shit Hargrove was. What he had done to Caroline… the threats that he had made against Max. Threats that even Max didn’t know about.

Billy smirked and popped his cigarette between his lips while shaking off his jacket and tossing it in his car. He closed the door forcefully and moseyed closer to the front porch. In his typical, douchebag style, he wore his jeans so tight that they cut off circulation. His short-sleeved red shirt, tucked into his pants, was only buttoned by the bottom two or three buttons, at best. The rest of his chest was exposed as the fabric moved with every step.

“What’re you doing here, amigo?” Billy faked a friendly tone. _You hiding Caroline in there?_

Steve needed to stop him from getting any closer to the house. He stepped off the porch and met Billy on the paved sidewalk that led to the driveway. “I could ask you the same thing… _amigo_.” He crossed his arms, waiting for an answer. On any given day, Billy had no business being at the Byers’ residence. The only reason he was here now was because he was up to no good.

“Lookin’ for my stepsister,” Billy answered honestly. His cigarette bounced up and down between his lips as he talked. “Little birdie told me she was here.” _Little birdies sent me all over this shithole town looking for her, and I’m not leaving without her._

Steve shrugged his shoulders and convincingly lied, “Huh. That’s weird. Caroline’s not here.”

Billy chuckled and pursed his lips tighter around the cigarette, looking off to the front window of the house where four heads sat silently watching before looking back at Harrington. Thin trails of smoke leaked from his mouth. “Maybe not. Looking for my other stepsister. The younger one. Max.”

Steve shrugged and frowned, flatly answering. “Don’t know her.”

Billy moved his hands while offering a description of the younger stepsister that he knew was inside. His face and tone of voice grew sterner, and his eyes appeared black. “Small. Red head. Bit of a bitch.” _Soon to be a dead bitch._

“Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry, buddy.”

Billy looked down and nodded disbelievingly. He gripped the cigarette between his thumb and middle finger, yanking it from his lips and contorting his face as he thought out loud. He waved his hand as he spoke. “You know,” he exhaled loudly. “I don’t know. This… this whole situation, Harrington, I don’t know... It’s giving me the heebie jeebies.” He brought the cigarette back to his lips and intently watched Steve for a response.

 _Heebie jeebies? Does he know about what’s been going on?_ Steve asked, “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

Sucking another deep puff of smoke into his lungs, Billy shrugged and shook his head. He lowered the cigarette and exhaled harshly. “My thirteen-year-old sister goes missing _all_ night. And then I find her with _you_ , in a _stranger’s_ house,” he motioned to the house behind Steve and looked him dead in the eyes. “And you _lie_ to me about it.” _Harrington is about to find out what happens when he lies._

Steve scoffed and shifted on his feet. He looked away from Billy, hoping that he wouldn’t give away Max and Caroline’s whereabouts by giving a wrong look or sounding too suspicious. “Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?” Billy smiled at him, blowing another plume of smoke in his face and waggling his tongue like he was having fun. “I don’t know what you don’t understand about what I just said.” Steve’s voice lowered and he shook his head. “She’s not here.”

Inside, Caroline came back out from the kitchen, having paced for minutes. She worried about what was going on outside with Steve. She hurriedly walked back into the living room and saw all four kids kneeling low on the sofa in front of the window.

Her eyes widened. “Guys, get away from the window,” she whispered harshly.

Billy pointed behind Steve with his cigarette toward the window where he had seen Maxine’s red hair glimmer in the light. “Then who is that?”

Steve turned around and looked at the window. Four little heads, facial expressions wide and scared, quickly dipped down out of sight.

“Shit!” Dustin’s heart thumped as he slouched down into the sofa with the rest of his friends. “Did he see us?”

Caroline gasped and raised her hands to the side of her face. Her breathing began to feel labored, like she was sucking air through a tiny straw. But, she needed to keep her wits about her. She needed to protect the kids if something happened, and she had a terrible, nagging, clawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was about to happen.

“Okay, guys,” she frantically waved her arms towards herself. “Get over here. Get away from the window.”

“Aw, shit,” Steve mumbled, realizing that they had been found out. Turning back around to face Billy, he was going to try to reason with him. “Listen—”

Billy roughly pushed Steve’s chest, dropping him to the hard ground in an instant. Steve grunted, his lungs feeling like they had been hit by a hammer. Billy loomed over him.

“I told you to plant your feet,” Billy pointed out Steve’s tendency to shuffle around and move too much.

He kicked Steve hard in the stomach. Steve sputtered and curled into a ball to protect himself. It didn’t stop Billy from landing another forceful blow, this time a harsh stomp to his ribcage. He reached down, grabbing a fistful of Steve’s long hair, and delivered two strong punches to his temple. He released his hair with a hard shove, smacking Steve’s head off the pavement.

Billy took one more long drag of his cigarette and then angrily tossed it aside. He stepped over Steve, who lay groaning and motionless, and stepped up onto the porch. He flung the door open, and it banged against the inside wall.

Standing before him was Caroline in front of a gaggle of kids, including Max. Her arms stretched out to keep the kids behind her. The look on her face, despite her efforts to appear brave and stoic, screamed terrified.

“Well well well,” Billy jerked to slam the door shut behind him. He slowly approached Caroline, his eyes shifting back and forth between her and Max. “A two for one. What a pleasant surprise,” his tone was flat and sadistic.

His focus was on Max as he walked closer. Caroline pushed Max further behind her, but Max planted her feet and scowled at Billy. He turned to look at Caroline, admiring the purple bruise and messy hair.

“Thought I told you to wait at home for me, Caroline,” Billy cocked his head and said matter-of-factly.

“Billy, go away,” Caroline spoke through clenched teeth, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest.

“You disobeyed me,” he spoke in almost a whisper. He glanced at her lips, wanting to kiss them, to shove his tongue inside her mouth and throw her to the floor. He looked back up at her eyes. “And you know what happens when you disobey me.”

“Billy—” Max spoke up, wanting to defend and protect her older sister.

Staring into Caroline’s petrified eyes, he snarled, “I break things.”

In a flash, Billy shoved Caroline into the group of boys. She lost her footing as the boys scrambled to catch her. Immediately following the shove, Billy grabbed two fistfuls of Max’s jacket, jerking her away from the group and coercing her backwards into the kitchen until he slammed her against a corner cabinet. Max grunted and gasped when her back painfully smashed against the irregular edges.

“Billy, no!” Caroline screamed while the boys helped her back to her feet.

The boys all hollered commands for Billy to stop, to let her go, to leave her alone. Caroline knew she wouldn’t be able to pry Billy off of Max. She couldn’t even pry him off of herself when she wanted to. She looked around the room for any sort of weapon that she could use against him. Leaning against the wall next to her was the shotgun, left behind to fight another Demodog, should one show up. Caroline snatched it in her hands.

“I promised Caroline I would break your arm if she disobeyed me,” Billy growled in Max’s face.

Max cried with fear and continued to scream at him to let her go.

Heartrate pulsing in her ears, Caroline pushed past the boys. She rushed into the kitchen and brought the shotgun barrel up to the side of Billy’s head, ensuring that if she fired, the bullet wouldn’t also go through Max.

“Get away from her,” Caroline powerfully commanded.

Billy froze, releasing Max’s shirt from his grasp and allowing the young teen to dip between him and Caroline to retreat back to the safety and comfort of her friends. The boys chattered and hugged her close, rubbing her hair and comforting her as she cried.

Slowly, Billy turned his body to face Caroline. She kept the shotgun aimed at his head. Her finger trembled on the trigger. She didn’t know if she could do it. If she could kill him. She never fired a gun before, but the mechanism seemed quite simple. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to see his brains splatter against the kitchen wall. Wasn’t sure if, even after all that he had done to her, if she could live with herself. Her breaths were loud, short and shaky.

He looked at her. Cold metal pressed firmly against his forehead now. He wrinkled his forehead, rolling his eyes up to look at where the barrel met his skin. Swiftly, his hand flew up and gripped the barrel. The sudden movement caused Caroline to flinch, squeezing her grip on the forestock and pushing the butt tighter against her shoulder in case he tried to take it from her.

Billy spotted the fear and hesitation on her face. Her lip quivered. He could feel the minor vibrations travelling from her hands, down the length of the barrel, to where it connected to his head. _She’s not gonna do it._

“Do it,” Billy’s eyes met hers. His lips pressed into a pout, nose wrinkled, eyes ablaze. “Pull the trigger,” he croaked with a raspy voice.

The kids were silent, shocked, still. Wide eyed and unmoving as they watched the two older teens with a firearm between them. Caroline was stunned, not expecting him to make such a bold dare when he was staring down the wrong end of the barrel.

Billy took a step forward, forcing Caroline to take a step back. In a sing song voice, he challenged her, “Pull the fu-cking tri-gger.”

Caroline’s vision became hazy behind tears. Tears of doubt, of fear, of hatred. Her finger pulled back on the trigger, feeling its resistance. She stopped. The sing-song enunciation triggered a replay of threats, and dangers, and destructions, all at his hands.

_‘Caroliiiiine— We did missionaryyyyy and doggyyyyy— Come on, baby. Get wet for me— You know what happens when you lie— Let this be a reminder…— Do you see what you made me do— Just ditch Max somewhere, keep you all to myself…— Maaaaax— Maybe tonight I break her arm— The next time you see Max, you won’t recognize her— I’ll gut that fucking little brat—'_

“PULL IT!” Billy roared as loud as he could.

 _For Max._ Caroline closed her eyes and screamed, pulling the trigger back. _Click._ The kids screamed and held each other. Billy closed his eyes and flinched hard. Nothing. She opened her eyes and held her mouth open in shock. Billy’s eyes flew open when he realized he was still alive. His and Caroline’s eyes locked. Predator and prey. Caroline squeezed the trigger again. _Click._ Again and again. _Click, click._

Billy ripped the shotgun from her hands and tossed it off to the side. It slid along the kitchen floor with a heavy thud and scuffing noise. He lunged forward one step and tangled his fingers in her hair, throwing her back against the corner cabinet that he previously had Max against. Caroline yelped in pain and brought her hands up to push his chest. His other hand found her throat and held her in place.

“You were going to _kill_ me?” Billy spoke loudly but with an astonished undertone, almost offended and hurt. His breath hot against her face, his eyes just inches from hers, he stared at her, shocked that she would do such a thing. She slammed her eyes shut, allowing the teardrops to fall. When she opened her eyes, he smirked devilishly at her, leaning in closer to whisper, “And here I thought I had fucked all the fire out of you.”

Billy forgot where he was for a moment. That there was an audience. All he saw was Caroline and those luscious, tantalizing lips trembling in fear. He closed the distance between them, smacking his lips against hers, capitalizing on the narrow opening to slither his probing tongue into her mouth against hers.

“What the hell—" Dustin made a face. The boys looked at Max, perplexed and grossed out, who stared in surprise at Billy and Caroline. It was then that she realized that his abuse toward Caroline extended beyond just being physical.

Caroline protested, pushing hard against his chest and pulling against his forearm despite his fingers clenching tighter around her throat. His tongue shoved further into her mouth, seeking her own as it dodged to evade him. She bit down on his tongue. Hard. Billy howled and drew back. Caroline tasted the bitter, metallic tang of his blood left behind.

Billy stepped back and spit on the floor, seeing his own blood mixed with his saliva.

“You bit me,” he said incredulously. He snarled and launched forward, “Fucking—”

Caroline drew up her knee as fast and as solid as she could, pushing him back at his shoulders once she had made brutal contact with his genitals. The kids gasped as Billy grunted hard and stammered back, bent over with his hands cupping his groin. He looked up at Caroline and saw red.

“You are _so_ _dead_ , Caroline!” He stood back up, fire in his eyes, blood around his mouth. “You’re dead.”

During the commotion, no one had seen Steve slink back into the house. It had taken him a while to stand back up. The double vision from the dual blows to the head made it difficult for him to stand again without falling. To see what was the real set of steps he needed to climb, and what was just a mirror image, counterfeit and deception.

Steve’s hand firmly grasped Billy’s bicep and twisted him around to face him. “No,” he reared back his fist, “ _you_ are.”

He landed a concrete punch to Billy’s jaw, sending Billy toppling almost completely to the floor. Caroline ran behind Steve to the boys and Max who were waving their hands and holding their arms open for her. Max hugged her arms around Caroline’s waist. The boys huddled together against them.

Caroline watched as Billy cackled maniacally while hoisting himself back into a straight standing position. Blood dripped down his nose and his face warped into a demented, entertained smile. Blood lined his teeth at the gums.

“Looks like you’ve got some _fire_ in you after all, _huh_?!” Billy beamed while motioning to Steve. “I’ve been waiting to meet this _King Steve_ everybody’s been telling me _so_ _much_ about.” He stared at Steve with a daring expression.

Steve wanted to punch him again. He wanted to knock his lights out. Wanted to reach down his throat and rip his insides out. But, not in front of the kids. Not in front of Caroline. As satisfying as it would be, this was not the time nor the place. Not with other dangers nearby.

Steve was disgusted by the person standing in front of him. Knowing what he had done to Caroline. “Get out,” Steve bluntly demanded, pushing his fingers against Billy’s chest.

Billy stepped back at the pressure of Steve’s touch, but his enraged stare never faltered. He looked at Steve standing in front of him, the opportunity he wanted yesterday presenting itself now. To smash his face in; drag him around, battered and bloody; to put him in the morgue. He swung. Fast and sudden. Steve ducked, having anticipated that Billy would not be so easy to get rid of. Steve secured another punch to Billy’s face. Once. Twice. Three times, sending Billy stumbling backwards as he bounced off the table and then again off the kitchen sink.

 _“Yes, kick his ass, Steve!”_ Dustin cheered. The boys rooted various phrases of encouragement against Billy. _“Kill the son of a bitch!— Kick his ass, Steve!— Get him!”_

Billy laughed. That villainous, wild cackle that was out of the ordinary for the beating he was receiving. Then again, Billy was programmed to take a beating like no one else. If there was one thing that he could thank Neil Hargrove for, it was toughening him up. Max stretched and arched to see what was happening, but Caroline pushed her back out of the way. Billy, in his fumbling at the kitchen sink, picked up a dinner plate and managed to smash it over Steve’s head with a gut-wrenching crash. It sent Steve stumbling halfway across the room, stooping over in pain as blood began to pour from his hairline.

_“Holy shit!”_

Caroline saw Billy marching towards Steve, face bloodied and full of rage. “Steve!” she tried to warn him.

It was no use. Billy’s fist had already connected with Steve’s face, forcing him to stagger into the living room. Caroline stepped back and held her arms out to her side, urging the kids back out of the way as Billy blew past them like a storm. He was unstoppable. Strong legs marched him seamlessly to Steve’s wobbling body. Bulging arms supported the weight of Steve’s body when Billy dug his fingers into his upper arms, hoisting him upward to look him in the eyes. Steve looked like a ragdoll, still stunned from the initial hit.

“ _No one_ tells me what to do,” Billy spat. He headbutted Steve ruthlessly with a feral cry, the force so violent that Steve skidded several feet back when he fell. “ _Woo_!”

 _“Get up!”_ the boys yelled at Steve.

As Billy started to stomp towards Steve, Caroline ran after him. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and tried to pull him back. “Billy, stop! He’s had enough! Stop it!”

Billy twisted his torso around and wrenched her arms from around him. He barely even registered who was doing it before he shoved hard at her chest, sending her falling backwards to the floor. Mike and Lucas rushed to Caroline’s side.

Max looked at Billy, now straddling Steve, delivering punch after punch to his unmoving body. _Left, right, left._ She looked at Caroline, being supported by either boy as they helped her back to her feet. Max looked back to Billy. _Right. Left._

“He’s gonna kill him!” Dustin panicked.

Max ran behind Billy and grabbed at his bicep to pull him away from Steve. Billy was already strong, but when he saw red, even God himself could not stop him. Max’s arms wrapped tightly around his, and she pulled, yelling at him to _Stop it!_ Billy bent his arm and threw it back harshly, elbowing Max in the face so hard that she stumbled backwards and hit her head on the floor. Nose already bleeding.

Caroline gasped when she saw Max take the hit. Now able to stand on her own two feet, Lucas left Caroline to rush to Max’s aid. She was okay. She was alert but stunned. Max brought her hand to her face and pulled it away to see blood. Caroline looked back at Billy and saw him continue to punch an unconscious Steve. _Left. Right._ He wasn’t going to kill Steve. He wasn’t going to hurt her sister. Not anymore.

The anger within Caroline lit a fire everywhere in her body. Billy was responsible for too much destruction. He needed to be stopped. She charged at Billy, screaming as her shoulder came into contact with the side of his body as hard as she could.

They both grunted. She had been successful in knocking Billy off Steve. His shoulder landed fiercely against the floor with Caroline toppling over him, nearly off him. Their legs intertwined and her abdomen was halfway on his. She quickly pushed herself up and straddled him over the waist. Having never thrown a real punch before, she just did what came naturally to her. The kids hooted and hollered for her, but it was just noise in the background. Too worked up to focus. The first contact her closed fist made with his face sent shockwaves all the way up her arm. It hurt like hell, but she kept doing it. She managed to get in four punches before Billy grabbed her by the hips and bucked beneath her, flipping them over so that he was now on top of her. The kids screamed for him to stop and get off her.

Billy’s teeth were outlined in blood. It trickled from the corners of his mouth. Blood gushed from his nose and ran down over his lips, more from the hits that Caroline accomplished rather than from Steve. As he exhaled harshly, Caroline felt droplets of his blood splatter onto her own face.

She kicked her legs and bucked her hips, but he was too strong. He swung his legs over hers and managed to pin her hips between his thighs. Caroline scratched at him, digging three gashes into his cheek before he wailed and pinned her hands down. He looked down at her, and they paused. Only for a moment. _She had forgotten her place._

He released her hands to backhand her cheek with raw, bloodied knuckles. There wasn’t enough time for her to gasp at the action before his fingers found their way around her throat. This wasn’t like any other time he had wrapped his hands around her neck. No. This time, she couldn’t breathe at all. Caroline’s eyes bulged and her feet kicked behind him. Her fingernails dug deep into the soft flesh of his wrists as she desperately tried to get air. The look on his face was murderous. A vein in his forehead rose to the surface, protruding due to the strain of his own body.

It wasn’t just his weight on top of her that made her feel like her lungs would collapse. Caroline’s chest ached for a breath. Her face turned into a kaleidoscope of colors. First red, then purple, then blue. Her vision was fuzzy and eyes watered until all she could make out was just the shape of Billy, a red blur. Until…

 _“Hnfph!”_ Billy grunted, his hands retracting from around Caroline’s throat as the sudden stabbing pain in his neck finally set in.

Caroline gasped for air, the sudden flow through her pipes too much to handle. She coughed and gagged, struggled to take a real breath. Saw stars behind her eyes as her body took in the oxygen that it so desperately needed.

Billy stood over Caroline’s body and turned around to face the culprit. _Max_. He nearly lost his footing as he stepped in between Caroline’s legs to go after Max. The sharp pain in his neck remained. He turned his head to look over and saw a syringe sticking out of his body. He reached up and grimaced as he pulled the long needle from his neck, immediately relieving the pressure but now replaced with a foggy, heavy feeling of discoordination.

His eyes tried to find Max but only saw an outline with a red glow. “The hell is this?” he tried to shout but could only manage a mumble. “You little shit,” he cursed her as he felt himself slipping. “What’d you do?” his voice became weaker.

Billy’s head and limbs felt heavy. His feet like cement blocks. He tried to lift one for another step forward, but the weight of his head pulled him back. He had no balance or control over himself. The room spun as he fell backwards, knocking back into Caroline’s legs as she crawled backwards like a crab to get out of the way of his falling body.

The room was silent except for his deep maniacal laugh, now somewhat subdued by the tranquilizer coursing through his system. Max looked at Caroline in confusion. How could he be laughing, still, at a time like this? Billy tried to lift his head but only managed to bob it from side to side. Caroline finally stood and stepped over him to join Max. Billy’s hand lazily reached for her ankle, but he was only able to brush his fingers against the denim as she stepped away.

Max saw Steve’s nail-studded baseball bat leaning against the couch from their earlier battle. She didn’t think twice. She gripped it in her hands and lifted it by her shoulder. Standing between Billy’s feet, Max evenly threatened, “From here on out, you leave me and Caroline and our friends alone. Do you understand?”

“Screw you,” Billy instantly grumbled, his eyelids looking heavy.

Max swung the bat down with force, hammering the nails into the wooden floor beneath Billy’s thighs. Caroline and the kids flinched at the action. Max had just narrowly missed Billy’s groin. Billy, though tired and drugged, was surprised by Max’s brazenness. He managed to lift his head enough to look down at where the sharp object had landed so close to his manhood.

Max pried the nail-bat from the floor, splintering pieces of wood as she raised the bat up to her shoulder again, ready for another swing. “ _Say_ you understand!” she yelled at him as he dropped his head back down. “Say it! SAY IT!”

Caroline’s heart raced as she watched her little sister take full control in front of Billy. All this time she had thought she needed to protect and save Max. It was, in fact, her little sister who had protected and saved her.

“I understand,” Billy mumbled, barely moving his lips.

“What?” Max asked. She had heard him, but she was taking a page out of Neil’s book.

Billy licked his lips. Mouth dry and eyes tired. “I understand,” he repeated just the tiniest bit louder. He looked at Caroline, and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body stilled completely. The drugs had taken their full effect.

Max dropped the bat to the floor and marched over his body, retrieving the keys to the Camaro from Billy’s side pants pocket. Holding up the keys for the rest of the shocked household to see, Max said, “Let’s go.”

Caroline stood still while Mike, Dustin, and Lucas scurried in front of her to pick up Steve’s limp body and Max headed outside to open the Camaro door. She stared at Billy. He looked peaceful, albeit a tad gory. The face that seemed to always have a permanent scowl or devilish grin was now relaxed, far off in dreamland. Away from the hurt and pain that his body would likely feel when he woke up. It wasn’t fair. Caroline felt everything. Every burning sensation, every indentation from where his fingers and hands had been, every hot trail of saliva he had left on her body. She felt it all. She didn’t get that kind of reprieve. Billy didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve to not feel pain.

She looked down at her feet and saw the bat. The nails shimmered in the light. She picked it up. There was a decent weight to it. Something that could definitely inflict damage. Nails so long and deep that, if they hit the right organ at the right angle, would end his life. She hadn’t been sure earlier if she was ready to do that. Until she pulled that trigger. That was when she knew. She could end his life. She could do it. And she would.

The boys had Steve out the door. One boy on each arm and the other at his legs. It was just her and Billy in the house. The distant sounds of the boys struggling to carry Steve’s dead weight to the car was easily enough cast aside. Caroline held her breath and listened to the gentle snores rhythmically fluttering from his throat. She twisted her hands around the base of the bat, feeling the dry wood scratch against her sweaty palms.

She approached him quietly, as if walking too fast or loud would cause him to wake and stop her. Blood dripped down from his nose onto his cheek, his neck, in his hair, landing in a small puddle under his head. She scanned his body from head to trunk. _Where? Where do I do it?_ In his face? Mutilate those pretty looks beyond recognition. In the chest? Deflate those plump, curvy muscles to nothing more than minced meat. In the groin? Spear into and rip apart his most prized body part. The one that could do far more damage that his fists ever did.

His head. Bash it in until his brains are on the floor. Until there’s nothing left. Stab into those unsuspecting sleeping eyes. Eyes that saw parts of her that she never wanted him to see. Caroline breathed again. Long and deep breaths. Air filled her lungs and her brain with crystal clear certainty. She raised that bat above her head, taking one more look at him. She would be the last person to see him like this.

“Caroline! No!” Max shouted from the door, bounding over Billy’s body and standing between him and the bat.

Caroline remained in position, bat above her head. She shifted her tearful eyes to look at Max. Max was scared. Of Caroline? For Caroline? _For Billy?_ She couldn’t risk him waking up and coming after her again. After them.

“Move, Max,” Caroline softly juddered.

“Hey, guys. We— Oh…” Dustin appeared in the doorway and stopped.

Caroline looked over to him. His eyes were wide and movements slow. She felt like she was the monster. The longer they looked at her, the more insecure she felt. She had wanted to do this without them seeing.

“Caroline,” Max placed her hand tenderly on Caroline’s arm, gently putting pressure on it to get her to lower it.

Seeing that she wasn’t truly a danger to them, Dustin stepped forward. He moved over Billy to take place next to Max, in front of Caroline. He placed his hand on her other arm, mirroring Max.

Caroline cried silently, looking back and forth between the two younger teens that seemed to have more sense than her.

“Hey,” Dustin lulled, having seen her tears more that night than anyone. “Whatever he did to you, you’re better than that.” Caroline snapped her head to look at him. He nodded his head, continuing to gently pull her arm down. “He’s not worth it,” he shook his head, and Caroline obliged, letting him take the bat from her hands. “Yeah?”

The bat slid from her fingers. Caroline nodded at Dustin and then looked down, ashamed of the monster that Billy had turned her into.

“Come on,” Max said softly, placing the keys to the Camaro in Caroline’s hand. “Let’s go.”

The three boys had crammed into the backseat with Steve splayed across their laps. He was alive, but badly banged up. It took everything within Caroline to not stomp Billy’s face in when Max guided her past him. Max’s face still had blood on it. One of the boys had done their best to clear it from her face with a dishtowel in the aftermath, but her skin was still stained pink where it had been.

Caroline wrapped her arm around Max’s shoulder, and Max placed her arm around Caroline’s waist as they walked down the steps together towards the car. The passenger side was still open, left that way from the boys after they had packed themselves in.

“I love you,” Caroline said, placing a kiss to the top of Max’s hair and squeezing her a little tighter.

Max smiled. “I love you, too.”

They let go of each other. As Max walked towards the open passenger door and Caroline towards the driver side, a deep growl permeated through the darkness. Caroline stiffened. Tiny hairs all over her body stood at attention as out of the corner of her eye she saw movement.

“Caroline?” Max asked from behind the door. She hadn’t heard it, didn’t know why Caroline had stopped.

Caroline slowly turned and saw it. Lurking out from behind a bush, shoulders arched and head low. A Demodog. It stalked in her direction, like a lion hunting an antelope.

Lightly, not making sudden movements, Caroline directed, “Get in the car, Max. Now.”

Max looked beyond Caroline and saw the Demodog approaching. She gasped but did as she was told, moving slow and quiet, closing the door behind her. The door didn’t latch all the way.

“What’s the matter?” Lucas asked, seeing the petrified expression on Max’s face.

“Oh, _shit,_ ” Mike whispered. He saw it through the window of the backseat.

Caroline was unbelievably still. The only muscles in her body moving were those that controlled her eyes and internal organs. When faced with the decision of fight, flight, or freeze, she froze. Her head was tilted down, avoiding looking at it straight on, despite it not having any eyes. It was only three feet in front of Caroline now.

“What do we do?” Max whispered in distress, looking at the rest of the party for an answer.

“Wait,” Dustin said. He pointed out near Caroline, “Look.”

The Demodog lifted its head in the air. The tip, where its mouth could open up into a demonic flower with teeth, stretched high in the air. It stood on hind legs. As if it were sniffing something. It dropped back down to all fours and opened its mouth wide. A bone-chilling shriek bellowed from its throat. Caroline winced at the sound, so close, so threatening. But then, the Demodog leapt. Not at Caroline. Towards the house. Then through the broken window of the Byers’ living room where Billy lay, unaware and bloody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be wrapping up this fic in the next chapter, but I'm already thinking of a possible sequel. I'll explain more after next chapter is posted. But let me know what you think!


	20. Chapter 20

*Five Weeks Later*

“Here we are,” Steve leaned forward and peered inside Hawkins Middle School at the crowd of kids inside. He could see Dustin’s nerves as he bounced his leg apprehensively in the passenger seat. “So, remember, once you get in there—”

“Pretend like I don’t care,” Dustin repeated Steve’s advice about how to get a girl to notice him.

“You don’t care,” Steve agreed, cool as a cucumber.

“I don’t care,” Dustin repeated more convincingly with the same confidence Steve had just vocalized.

“There you go. You are learning, my friend,” Steve nodded. “You’re learning.”

Dustin turned the rearview mirror towards himself and looked at his reflection anxiously. It was the first time he had ever styled his hair. The Farrah Fawcett spray that Steve used really did hold every single curl of his in place. He wondered if the change was too drastic. If girls would make fun of him, or worse, his own party.

Noticing the low confidence, Steve said, “Hey. Come on. You look great, okay? You look, you look…” he couldn’t think of another word, so he repeated himself. “Great. Okay?”

Dustin looked down and nodded his head, not as sure as Steve seemed to be.

Steve tried to give him a pep talk. “Now you’re gonna go in there—”

“Yeah?”

“Look like a _million bucks—_ ”

“Yeah!” Dustin agreed with gusto.

“And you’re gonna _slam_ them.”

“Like a lion,” Dustin’s eyes sparkled. He grinned followed by a long, drawn out purr showcasing his pearly white teeth.

Steve grimaced at the cringe-worthy sound. “Yeeeah. Don’t do that, okay?” He was only just looking out for the kid, of whom he had grown quite fond.

“Okay,” Dustin immediately agreed, taking Steve’s words as gold.

Steve held his hand out as an offering of support. Dustin took it for a quick shake. “Good luck,” Steve grinned with sincerity.

Dustin nodded and got out of the car. He walked through the double doors into the Snow Ball dance. Steve couldn’t help but smile at Dustin’s newfound excitement. How he was able to help build up his confidence in a matter of minutes. He was a good kid.

Beyond Dustin, through another door, stood Nancy, smiling as she served punch to young dancegoers. And then he saw _her_. Caroline. Behind Nancy. Her long, wavy hair was curled with more volume, clipped back on one side with a large, glittery barrette. She was smiling, _laughing_ even, as she assisted Nancy at the refreshments table. She looked like a dream in a royal blue dress with lace sleeves and sequined bodice. Steve sat in his car for a minute, just appreciating her candid happiness. He found himself smiling at how content she appeared to be. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel that he had screwed things up. Moving too fast without thinking, before he really had a chance to fully comprehend that _yes_ , he _was_ ready to move on from Nancy. He was just scared of change.

“I don’t believe you,” Caroline laughed, ladling another serving of fruit punch into a cup and setting it at the front of the table for whoever wanted it.

Nancy laughed and shook her head. “I swear. It happened like three years ago. That’s why they need someone to man the table now.”

“At a _middle school_ dance?” Caroline couldn’t believe that someone in junior high would spike the punch. Sounded like something Billy would have done.

“Uh huh,” Nancy laughed.

Caroline’s laughter started to die down. “There’s always one bad egg that has to ruin it for the rest.”

 _“Caroliiiiiine,”_ a deep, almost mocking voice drawled out.

She looked back up and saw Billy standing in the corner by the door. In his tight blue jeans and a red button-down, chest exposed from lack of buttons on his shirt. Gold pendent around his neck sparkling under the twinkly lights in the auditorium. His skin tanned, just as she remembered it. He grinned at her, tongue poking out between his teeth, and winked. Caroline gasped and dropped the cup in her hand. Cold red liquid sloshed on the tile floor, splashing up her beige pantyhose and beading off her black vinyl pumps.

“Caroline?” Nancy placed a hand on her arm. “Are you alright?”

Caroline snapped her head to look at Nancy. Her expression was pure concern. Caroline quickly looked back to the corner where she had seen Billy. He wasn’t there. Caroline’s eyes scanned the crowd in the area surrounding the corner, searching for a place where he might have run off to. Nothing. Just balloons, streamers, banners, stringed lights, and a room full of young teenagers dancing.

As her heartrate subsided back to its normal pace, Caroline shook her head and sighed. “I thought… I thought I saw—”

Nancy turned and looked at where Caroline’s eyes were wandering. She understood the way a mind could play tricks. She had gone through it herself the first time she saw the Demogorgon. Went through it plenty of times, thinking she had seen Barb, when really, it was just someone who resembled her.

“Hey,” Nancy slid her hand down to Caroline’s and gave a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay. The gate’s closed.”

It wasn’t the gate she was worried about. Or the Demogorgons or Demodogs. It was Billy. She had nightmares about him often. She felt like she was always running from his shadow. When the party had returned to the Byers’ house that night after their mission at the pumpkin patch, Billy was gone. There was no trace of him. No blood trail. No body parts. Just… gone.

The government responsible for Hawkins Lab and the gate had disposed of his car for them and drilled a story into their brains. It was believable enough that a reckless, law-breaking, angry youth would up and leave after his family had involuntarily moved him to a new town that he was so vocal about hating. It hadn’t surprised Neil. Angered him, for being irresponsible and leaving Max and Caroline while their parents were away, but didn’t surprise him. As far as Neil was concerned, it was good riddance. Billy was nothing but a thorn in his side, a pebble in his shoe. For all he knew, Billy was back at the coast. Or possibly dead, having run his mouth off to the wrong damn person and finally meeting his match.

She and Max had been sworn to secrecy. It was easy enough to keep the secret of the other worldly beings they had encountered that night. After all, how often do questions about monsters come up in conversation? It was another thing to keep up with a lie that they weren’t so sure about. No body meant that there was the possibility that he was alive. Admittedly, it was unlikely. Right? The Demodog had jumped through the window, seeking blood, smelling it fresh on Billy’s unconscious body. An easy meal, no fight, no struggle. But, no evidence that he had been ripped apart and consumed. It was hard to keep up with that lie. Especially when at least three times a week, Susan would quietly ask, _“Have you heard from your brother?”_

Caroline smiled weakly. “Yeah,” the gate was closed. “You’re right.”

Nancy ripped a few paper towels from the supply role behind the table. She began to soak up the spilled liquid. Caroline got her own and worked on cleaning the mess. She then dried off her shiny shoes and dabbed at the panty hose. They were ruined. Red splotches remained on her lower legs and feet. _Oh well,_ she thought, _I’m behind the table._

Nancy assured her that what she was experiencing was normal. “I saw them, too, for a while,” she quietly said while she and Caroline were kneeled close together. “Especially at night when I would go to sleep.”

“How did you deal with it?” Caroline asked, hoping that whatever technique Nancy used for Demogorgons could be used for Billy.

Nancy offered a friendly smile and looked at Caroline in the eyes. “Just one day at a time. Deep breaths.”

After they had cleaned up the mess, Nancy took the soiled paper towels over to the trash. Caroline felt uneasy despite the upbeat music and dozens of blissful teens everywhere. She looked around the room and spotted Max dancing with Lucas. Caroline couldn’t help but smile. Max was happy; she deserved to be happy. Caroline hadn’t seen her smile like that since they lived in California before Mom married Neil.

Caroline sighed and looked elsewhere, trying to spot the other kids from the party. Seated on the bleachers was Dustin. Her heart sank at the sight of him. His head was bowed down. Shoulders were hunched and quivered ever so slightly, bouncing up and down like he was crying.

“Oh, no,” Caroline breathed, a frown forming on her face.

“What?” Nancy returned in time to hear Caroline’s sadness.

“Look at Dustin,” Caroline nodded in his direction, not wanting to point and draw additional attention. “I think he’s been rejected.”

Nancy frowned. She had always liked Dustin. He was a good kid. Funny, and a little strange, but always a good friend to her brother, Mike. Always polite and considerate to her, as well.

“I’m gonna go talk to him,” Nancy said, asking a silent question to Caroline with her eyes.

Caroline smiled, rolled her eyes, and nodded. “I’ll be fine. Go,” she playfully pushed Nancy.

Since Billy had been gone, she was actually able to make friends. It was surprising that one of the people she got along with best was Steve’s ex-girlfriend. She felt like she should be intimidated, but she wasn’t. Nancy was a good person. Treated her with kindness, included her in outings with their peers, genuinely seemed to care when she asked the question _how are you doing._

“Is this punch spiked?” Steve said at the side of the table, drawing Caroline’s attention away from Nancy walking towards Dustin.

He wasn’t exactly dressed for a dance, but he still looked good. Red sweater, perfect for the festivities, and dark blue jeans. His hair fell down over his eye as he swirled a cup in his hand and examined the contents. He looked up at Caroline with a boyish smirk between the low-hanging strands.

Caroline chuckled. “You know. You’re like the tenth person that has asked that tonight. I’m beginning to think that Hawkins is full of nothing but troublemakers.”

“Ehn,” Steve shrugged, placing the cup back down and settling his hands on his waist. “What else is there to do in this small town? It’s not like anything _exciting_ ever happens here.”

They shared a laugh, because trauma wasn’t the only thing they had to share. Caroline felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks and reach the tops of her ears. She had to look away and bite her lip.

Steve admired her from the side. She looked so different from that night that he picked her up from the side of the road. Her skin was healed. Glowing, even. Caroline was a chaperone, but she looked like she was the belle of the ball.

“You look really pretty,” Steve complimented her honestly, his smile reaching his eyes.

Caroline braved herself to look him in the eyes. “Thanks. So do you.” Steve chuckled and looked down at his outfit. Caroline briefly panicked, embarrassed by her choice of words. “I mean,” she quickly corrected, “you look nice.”

She looked away and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head and mumbling to herself about what an idiot she was. Steve thought it was endearing. He gently clasped her wrist and pulled it away from her face, finding that her skin was a brighter shade of pink now. A new song started to play. One that had a decent beat but was good enough to slow dance to. They averted their eyes from each other a few times, each one a little bashful and uncertain, and looked out at the droves of young couples dancing with each other.

_Every breath you take and every move you make_ _  
Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you_

“Do you want to dance?” Steve gathered the courage and asked hopefully.

Caroline smiled blushingly and then shook her head. “I have to watch the punch. You know. Make sure there’s not another _Vodka-Gate_.” _Vodka-Gate,_ as Nancy had informed her that the student body so wittily called it, a fun play on Watergate. No one knew who did it, but so many felt the effects.

Steve looked over to a well-dressed, tall boy standing a few feet away from the table. Cup in hand, other hand in his pocket. He stood alone, bobbing his head to the music.

“Hey, kid!” Steve called out. The boy turned to look at him, surveyed around, and then gawped back and pointed at himself. “Yeah, you. Can you watch the punch while I take this pretty girl out on the dancefloor?”

The kid smiled back and nodded his head, walking behind the table. Steve held his hand out to Caroline. She looked down at it and smirked but accepted it. She walked away from the table, not bothering to look back at the kid who sneakily checked out his surroundings before pulling a little flask from the breast pocket of his jacket.

The black heels that she wore still did not bring her up to Steve’s height. He led her out to the middle of the dancefloor. They were like giants amongst the younger teens. Steve twirled her around before bringing her in closer. One hand on her lower back, the other entwined with her hand. Caroline rested her other hand on his shoulder. Every once in a while, when he moved his head, his hair brushed against her knuckles and tickled.

They swayed lightly within the same three feet of floor space. After a few timid giggles, Caroline finally convinced herself to stop looking away from him. To just enjoy dancing with Steve. To watch his face. Had she not done that, she would have missed the way his eyes sparkled when they met. She would have missed how his eyes trailed down to her lips when she smiled, and how they lingered when she bit her lip.

“It’s nice to see you smile,” Steve revealed, his face serene and authentic.

Caroline smiled, unable to hide it. She felt happy, even if it was only just for tonight. “It’s just nice to see you,” she replied, removing her hand from his and wrapping her arms around his neck.

She rested her cheek against his shoulder. There was the smallest hesitation before she felt both of his hands on her lower back. His fingers spread lightly, feeling the scratchy lace fabric bedazzled with sequins.

Another couple moved away from beside them and she saw Billy again. Same outfit as that night: chest exposed and shiny under the lights. Face no longer bloody and beaten. Not quite serene, but not enraged either. Just… Billy. Watching her with those devil eyes— dark, almost black. Chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, curly sandy-brown hair. He stood amongst young teens dancing around him. Stationary, except for the up and down motions of his chest as he breathed in and out. Hands at his side, stretching and curling his fingers the way he did before he would make a fist.

_Oh, can't you see you belong to me  
How my poor heart aches with every step you take_

Caroline closed her eyes and took a smooth, deep breath in, just as Nancy had said. After she exhaled, she slowly opened her eyes, and he wasn’t there anymore. _Just a memory,_ she told herself. Perhaps because this was the closest she and Steve had been since that night. A situation that would have had her looking over her shoulder no longer warranted it.

“Uh,” Steve tapped her on the side to get her attention. “Two o’clock.”

Caroline smiled and lifted her head from his shoulder. “My two o’clock, or your two o’clock?”

He didn’t verbalize an answer, just raised his eyebrows and nodded towards his right. Caroline turned to look behind her, and Steve took the liberty of shifting them so that the turn didn’t feel so awkward.

 _Eleven._ She was dancing with Mike. The two of them looked so nervous as their faces inched closer together. Mike took the lead and closed the distance. Their lips met for just a second in a tiny kiss. Judging from their skittish glances and impish smiles to one another, Caroline guessed that she had just witnessed their first kiss.

“Aww, Steve,” Caroline cooed, placing a hand against her heart. _Young love._

While she and Steve continued to sway, she looked around the room at the other couples dancing. She found Nancy with Dustin. He was grinning from ear to ear, nodding his head along with Nancy to the beat of the music. Caroline was glad that he had perked up, that Nancy was dancing with him and showing all those middle school girls just what a gem they truly had passed up. Then she found Will. Dancing with some girl that she didn’t know but looking happy just the same. The poor kid deserved it, after the hell he had been through.

Next, she found Max. Her long red hair stood out among the rest. Caroline smiled at how happy she seemed to be, dancing with Lucas. No one to tell her who she could or could not talk to, or dance with. Her wrists crisscrossed behind Lucas’s neck and she appeared to bounce in place, uncertain about something. And then, she kissed him. Stood on tippy toes and quickly pecked his lips with her eyes closed. She pulled back and smiled, then tugged him into a close hug.

“Um,” Caroline twisted her face, uncertain of what to think about her sister’s first kiss at thirteen.

“She’s fine,” Steve’s fingers soothingly touched Caroline’s jaw to encourage her to look at him. His touch was soft and gentle.

Caroline looked away from Max and switched her attention to Steve. He smiled at her and then stole a quick glimpse at her lips, looking back up to her eyes for permission. Caroline repeated his motions, glancing at his lips, pulled into an anticipative grin, and then back into his deep, brown eyes. Steve moved slowly, giving Caroline the opportunity to say _no_ if she wanted to. She ran her fingers through his hair, brushing it away from his face and smiled at him. They closed their eyes. She pressed forward; their lips connected together softly.

It was intimate and warm. One of Steve’s hand traveled up her back. Their lips, parted slightly, allowed for a brief sweep of their tongues. But, this was a middle school dance, and things were to remain fitting as such.

Caroline finished the kiss, pulling back to look at Steve’s face. His eyes remained closed just a little longer than hers, and it made her giggle. He smiled at her reaction. Filled with butterflies and shyness, Caroline dipped her head down to his shoulder and resumed dancing with Steve with her arms wrapped around him. He tightened his hold around her back, pulling her closer against his chest.

Things felt right. She was in better company than she had been in for the past three years. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she could breathe. In this moment, she couldn’t imagine life getting much better than this. After what she had seen and encountered last month, she certainly couldn’t imagine it getting any worse. She was safe. Max was safe. Billy was gone. And the gate was closed. She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but for tonight, she was going to be a teenage girl in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, all, for reading. Please feel free to leave me some feedback. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and story telling. Let me know what your favorite part was. 
> 
> I have an idea that I'm playing around with for a sequel to this. I'm thinking of it taking place maybe ten years later. Caroline lives elsewhere but comes back to Hawkins for some reason (a wedding, a funeral, a reunion, whatever), and weird stuff starts happening. She sees Billy all over the place, has the constant feeling that she's being watched/stalked, maybe the gate reopens or there's some weird stuff from the past that gets brought up again. I'm not exactly sure how I want it to go, but the main point is to continue Caroline and Billy in some way. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas you'd like to see incorporated! The way I wrote the last chapter in this story leaves it somewhat open for the possibility that Billy could be dead or alive. So, I'm open to thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!


	21. Sequel: "Lonesome Billy"

Always lonely  
Always looking  
To get even with the (wo)men,  
Who did him wrong  
That was Billy  
Lonesome Billy

-“Lonesome Billy” (Peter Tevis and Ennio Morricone)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lonesome Billy by Psychgirl7
> 
> Caroline Mayfield returns to Hawkins in 1989 under unfortunate circumstances, leaving her in the former Mayfield-Hargrove house. During her stay, eerie occurrences begin to happen in which she feels like she is being watched. It seems that everywhere she turns, she feels Billy’s presence and experiences flashbacks of the Upside Down. But, how can it be a flashback if she sees something that isn’t a memory? The intrusive images and unsettling feelings lead to an overwhelming sensation of impending doom that she and Max, and perhaps all of Hawkins, are in danger yet again.
> 
> Please check out Part 2 of the story in the Caroline Mayfield series: Lonesome Billy


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